BERLIN, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Carmaker Daimler and Germany's largest automotive supplier Bosch have obtained the official approval for an automated valet parking system in the Mercedes-Benz museum parking garage in the city of Stuttgart, the two companies announced on Tuesday.
The project was supervised by experts of the technical inspection association TUEV Rheinland and would be the world's first fully automated driverless parking function according to SAE Level 4 "to be officially approved for everyday use", Daimler and Bosch stated.
Autonomous driving according to SAE level 4 enables a car to drive without a driver in a geographically defined area such as the parking garage in the pilot project of Bosch and Daimler.
"Driverless driving and parking are important building blocks for tomorrow's mobility," said Markus Heyn, chief executive officer (CEO) of Bosch.
For the pilot project, Bosch is providing the infrastructure and sensors installed into the parking garage while Daimler is responsible for the vehicle technology.
Since 2018, visitors of the Mercedes-Benz museum were able to "experience" the automated parking service but had to be accompanied by trained safety personnel.
With the approval of the transport ministry of the German federal state of Baden Wurttemberg, visitors would "soon" be able to use the specially equipped vehicles at the museum's parking garage "without additional supervision from a safety trainer", Daimler and Bosch stated.
The next and final step in autonomous driving according to SAE would be level 5 which allows vehicles to drive autonomously everywhere and under all conditions.
The decision by the responsible German authorities "sets a precedent for obtaining approval in the future for the parking service in parking garages around the world", said Michael Hafner, head of drive technologies and automated driving at Daimler.
