WOLFSBURG (dpa-AFX) - Volkswagen Group said it tests autonomous parking at Hamburg Airport. The Integrated full-service offering consistently focuses on the customer in the pilot project: charging, parcel receipt, laundry service and handling via app. The Project is part of the mobility partnership between the Volkswagen Group and the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.
On average Germans spend 41 hours a year looking for a parking space, the British spend 44 hours and residents of New York even spend 107 hours a year.
The target is for the first customers to be able to test the new autonomous parking service at the beginning of the next decade. And then there will be an end to the search for parking spaces and passengers can head straight to the terminal.
In the test scenario, users can book a parking space at Hamburg Airport conveniently from home using an app and simply leave their car at the entrance to the multi-storey car park. Everything else is done automatically: the vehicle looks for a free parking space - if required at an electric charging station. This is made possible by simple pictorial markers in the car park, which the vehicle sensors use for orientation. But that's not all: while the vehicle owner is away, parcels ordered are delivered to the vehicle boot and the dry cleaning service hangs freshly laundered clothes straight in the vehicle.
Upon return, the driver simply sends a brief message via the app and a short time later the vehicle is ready to drive home at the exit of the car park. And the billing is also fast and without queuing at the parking machine - needless to say, via the app.
Shaping urban mobility as part of the 'TOGETHER - Strategy 2025' plays an important role for the Volkswagen Group on the way to becoming the leading provider of mobility. This is because towns and cities are decisive for the future of mobility. It is here that the problems are most pressing and the potential for change is greatest. This is why the Volkswagen Group is investing more than 34 billion euros in new technologies for the future such as electric mobility, autonomous driving, digital networking of all road users and new mobility services - all important levers for making urban mobility more efficient and cleaner, and towns and cities better places to live in.
The Volkswagen brand is bringing its 'We Deliver' service to Hamburg. Users can have parcels delivered to their car boot. Deutsche Post subsidiary DHL is a Volkswagen partner in 'We Deliver'.
V2X procedures will be tested before the end of this year. Here, vehicles communicate directly with traffic lights to optimise traffic flow.
MOIA, the new mobility company in the Volkswagen Group, will start operations in Hamburg at the end of 2018. The shuttle-on-demand service will launch with environmentally friendly electric vehicles, complement public transport and offer an alternative to private cars.
MAN will test the use of autonomous trucks in the port of Hamburg and on selected motorway sections from 2019. In one terminal, trucks will drive fully autonomously; for safety reasons there will still be a driver on board.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX