Probably if asked, most drivers would say we parked very well, although the reality is that it is not always the case. Sometimes simply because we can spend a few days, or even weeks, without practicing a certain type of parking. Other times it may simply be that we have had a hard day at work, or come from a long trip and many hours behind the wheel, and we are tired and unwilling to park, that everything is said in passing, sometimes it is not very comfortable.
Or it may also be that that day we are not in fullness of our faculties, for example by being cold, or having a headache, or any other ailment. And although none of this happens, we must not forget that more and more older people drive, and that over the years mobility is reduced, and peripheral vision also, so that things that we did without problems with 20 or 30 years, how to turn your head to look back, with 60 or 70 years they no longer do the same.
And of course, there is also the fact that some people do not like to park and even make them nervous, and that some others, I hope and wish that the least, do not know how to park, I well need a lot of time to perform the maneuver, or well they will hit car park barriers and rub right and left to the cars around them.
For all this, car manufacturers have decided to incorporate automatic parking systems in their models. It is not so many years ago that the first systems arrived at some brands, and although they are increasingly, it is not so widespread.
The steering wheel turns by itself
These systems were an evolution of the first parking attendants, those that incorporated distance sensors in the bumpers and emitted a growing beep when the car approached the obstacle in question. Well, an automatic parking system necessarily requires sensors that measure the distance from the car to the limits of the square, other cars or obstacles, both in the rear bumper and in the front bumper.
These sensors are usually ultrasound and their number and distribution depends on the size and design of the car, although they are usually four or five by bumpers. Sometimes, although it is unusual, a radar can be used as a sensor.
In addition to these, on the sides of the bumper oriented in the transverse direction, there must be more sensors that measure the distance to the side of the car. These sensors measure the parking spaces and allow the system to identify one in which the car fits.
So when the driver activates the system by simply pressing a button, and circulates next to the parking band and passes in front of a hole, the system will tell you on the instrument panel display that this hole is worth it. This is the end of the inconvenience (problem for some drivers) of assessing whether that space has enough measure to enter your car.
The system will control the steering, and will turn the steering wheel as necessary, and when necessary, without error, thanks to an electric motor. Today these systems can park online, and according to the brand also on battery. For example, the Intelligent Parking Assist system available as an option since 2010 in the third-generation Toyota Prius, performs both types, but it is not the only one, for the record.