Automated parking technology has a short dilemma, with promising prospects
Reversing is a problem that almost all drivers will encounter, especially in a big city like Beijing with many cars but limited parking space. Reversing is not only a test of driving skills, it may even cause congestion or traffic accidents. For novice drivers, reversing can be described as "looking ahead and looking back" and "fear of fear". If there is a technology that can automatically complete the reversing and help you "get rid of the predicament", will you be emotional?
What is automatic parking?
Unlike traditional parking systems such as reversing radar, the automatic parking assist system does not require the driver to control the steering wheel or pay attention to the distance between the front and rear. The system measures the distance and angle to surrounding objects through radar probes installed around the vehicle (including The distance from the front and rear vehicles), then calculate the operation process through the on-board computer, formulate the driving angle and adjust the rotation of the steering wheel with the vehicle speed, and finally complete the reverse, the driver only needs to control the vehicle speed in the entire process.
It is understood that most of the current automatic parking technology is used for in-line parking (that is, the car is parked between the two cars), and some systems also have the function of automatic vertical storage.
Tracing the source
In fact, the automatic parking assist system is not a new thing. As early as 1992, Volkswagen applied this technology to its concept car called IRVW Futura. The driver can even get off and watch the whole process of automatic parking. But because Volkswagen at the time estimated that this feature would increase the price of the car by about $ 3,000, the system was not put into production.
In 2003, Toyota Motor Corporation provided an optional automatic parking function on Toyota Prius hybrid vehicles (Toyota Motors called it "smart parking assist system"). Three years later, the British Prius owners can assemble this vehicle for only $ 700. system.
With the reduction of costs and the improvement of technical level, automatic parking assist systems are becoming more and more valued by automobile manufacturers. At present, many products including Volkswagen, BMW , Mercedes-Benz , Toyota and other brands are equipped with this system, but most of them They are limited to high-end models, not standard.
It is understood that, in addition to the BMW 5 Series , Mercedes-Benz CLS , Volkswagen Sharan than other imported cars, FAW - Volkswagen CC and Magotan , Shanghai Volkswagen Tiguan and Touran , Shanghai Volkswagen Skoda Hao Rui and FAW Toyota's new Crown and other domestic models are also equipped with a Automatic parking assist system.
Not purely " automatically "
Although the automatic parking assist system can help the driver to reverse the car easily, it is undeniable that this automatic is not pure "automatic". First of all, no matter which car company uses the automatic parking assist system, the driver needs to press the brake pedal to control the speed of the vehicle during the use process; in addition, for different versions of the automatic parking system, there are different specific uses in the specific use Requirements and precautions.
For example, different automatic parking assist systems have different requirements for parking spacing. Specifically, cars of the Volkswagen and Skoda brands require parking spaces that are about 0.8 meters longer than the body, BMW requires 1.2 meters longer, and Mercedes-Benz requires longer parking spaces. The parking space is 1.3 meters longer than the car body.
In addition, there are some automatic parking assistance systems that still require the driver ’s manual cooperation. For example, after the Volkswagen Tiguan completes automatic parking, the wheels cannot automatically return to the right position. The driver needs to adjust the steering wheel to help the vehicle to stop stably; After entering the automatic parking state, the driver's hands cannot touch the steering wheel, otherwise the system will automatically stop; when the CC automatic parking system detects trees, street lights and other pillars beside the parking space, in order to avoid the risk of collision, automatic parking assistance The system will not be activated.
Although the automatic parking assist system can help the driver complete the reversing in most cases, in some specific cases, manual control is also required. In the final analysis, the technology is only assistance, and the driver is the leader. Although automatic parking assist systems are fun and worry-free, driving technology is still the key to driving.
Although car users in different countries have different preferences for autopilot functions, the similarity is that everyone does not like parking, especially for novice drivers, parking is a headache. Fortunately, automatic parking technology is here.
Automatic parking, a technology that reduces the difficulty of parking to almost zero, mainly measures the distance and angle between itself and the parking space through sensors around the vehicle, and also includes other obstacles in the scene Relative position, and then calculate the operation process through the on-board computer, adjust the rotation of the steering wheel with the speed of the car, and let the car park automatically.
In the early days of application, due to the immaturity of the relevant technology, the public's attitude towards automatic parking was half praised and depreciated. Today, after several years of development, automatic parking technology has been significantly improved over the previous two years. Has the attitude of the public changed accordingly? At this stage, what other problems need to be improved for automatic parking? What are the prospects for future development?
There are still "groove points" in practical applications
Anyone who has driving experience knows that during daily parking, drivers usually look at three mirrors, namely left rearview mirror, right rearview mirror, and middle rearview mirror, while constantly observing through the car window. The surrounding environment until parking. For experienced drivers, this process can be completed in a minute, but there are also some drivers who are not very skilled, and they can't stop in a few minutes or even tens of minutes, and there will even be rubbing.
The emergence of automatic parking has changed the car experience in this scenario. Compared with the traditional parking method, automatic parking, because of the environmental perception, decision-making and control are all carried out by the system, to maximize the liberation of the driver from the scene, for some "entry-level" drivers, or parking Under limited conditions, it can greatly improve the convenience and success rate of parking, and effectively solve the parking pain points of many users. This is the original intention of the design of the automatic parking system, and it is also one of the goals that this technology wants to achieve.
However, in the actual car scene, the system was frequently punished by users. A survey on automatic parking showed that only 1% of the 1970 valid sample data that participated in the survey indicated that they did not encounter problems when using the automatic parking system, and 76% of participants indicated that they were using There have been mistakes in the process of the automatic parking system. For example, the vehicle cannot quickly identify many types of parking spaces, and the parking time is too long.
Further analysis, this is mainly because the automatic parking system has certain requirements for the size and shape of the parking space. The size of the parking space is too small or too large. Without a reference, the vehicle will not be able to identify the parking space. In addition, most vehicles' automatic parking system uses ultrasonic sensors to detect the parking space. If the vehicle is too far away from the parking space, the vehicle will not be able to retrieve the parking space.
To the extent that many car owners use the automatic parking system after many attempts and fail, they finally give up using the system, and they will dump the car into the parking space by themselves. A Tesla owner complained to the author that he had tried to use the automatic parking function, but in the process of using it, he often got stuck and could not retrieve the parking space, and then never used it again. This feature.
Of course, it is also very important. At present, the automatic parking on the market is more of the L2 level. The driver still has to stay near the vehicle when using it, and it cannot be completely liberated from this scene, resulting in this technology being far away from the user. There is still a certain gap in psychological expectations.
This shows that there is still a lot of room for improvement in the current automatic parking system. In many cases, the system can indeed save people time and bring convenience. However, when encountering some more complicated scenes, such as oblique parking spaces, too narrow parking spaces or no reference objects for positioning around the parking spaces, this system may fail due to the inability to identify the parking spaces, resulting in a greatly reduced user experience. "In the final analysis, the quality of the automatic parking system depends on the technology of various car companies. For example, the automatic parking system of Xiaopeng Automobile and BMW is still well received." An industry source told the author.
User needs drive subsequent development
Although there are still many slots in the actual application of automatic parking at this stage, this does not prevent car companies from pursuing this technology. At present, the application of automatic parking systems in the domestic market has expanded from high-end cars to low-end cars, such as SAIC GM, Ford, Southeast Motor, Xiaopeng Automobile, Geely Automobile, etc., all of which have begun to install automatic parking on some of their new cars. Car system.
In the process, the assembly rate of automatic parking is also increasing year by year. According to relevant data, the assembly rate of automatic parking in the Chinese passenger car market has increased from 1.34% in 2013 to 7.7% in 2019, a significant increase.
In the future, as the technology related to automatic parking becomes more mature, costs are gradually lowered, and user acceptance continues to increase, its market space will be further opened. According to the survey, 72% of the participants said that although they have not used the automatic parking system, they are willing to try it if they have the opportunity. 40% of the participants said that when they have a car purchase plan, they are willing to buy a model equipped with an automatic parking system, and their market potential is evident.
Research by related agencies also proves this. The China Automotive Technology and Research Center has conducted an analysis and pointed out that by 2020, the new car assembly rate of the automatic parking system in the narrow passenger car market will reach 20%. In addition, after many years of slow climbing, the automatic parking assembly rate will achieve rapid growth from 2020 and is expected to exceed 20% by 2023.
What's more, if automatic driving is to be truly commercialized, automatic parking has always been regarded as a good entry point. Compared with automatic driving, the use of automatic parking is relatively simple, and the technical difficulty is relatively small, but it can solve the user's actual pain points. From this perspective, it will undoubtedly further expand the market space of automatic parking.
Just seeing this, a large number of players have emerged in the field in the past two years, such as Bosch, Continental, Baidu, Desaixiwei, Zongmu Technology, etc. With the concerted efforts of many players, automatic parking is moving towards More intelligent, that is, the development of fully autonomous parking. Compared with automatic parking, autonomous parking adds an unmanned driving function within a certain distance on the basis of the former. For example, in large shopping malls, users only need to get off at the entrance of the parking lot or the place closest to the elevator. It can automatically park into place, further improving the convenience of users parking.
Of course, to achieve this, the technical requirements are also higher. At present, there are two implementation methods: the first one is to further enhance the vehicle's environmental perception and computing power, so that the vehicle is smart enough to cope with the mixed traffic scene in the parking lot, and decides to avoid the route and passers-by safety Autonomous parking; the other is by combining with the field side, that is, loading sensors on the vehicle side, and assisting the field side, such as Bosch AVP. Especially when the parking lot signal is weak, if the parking lot and the vehicle can achieve information interaction, it will greatly simplify the parking difficulty.
However, although the above two methods are currently more mainstream solutions for smart parking, their respective challenges cannot be ignored. For example, taking the vehicle end as the dominant core will increase the cost of producing bicycles in the OEM. Taking the field end as the center will face the problems of inconsistent agreements, inconsistent standards, and high cost of site reconstruction at the current stage. From this point of view, the majority of users need to wait for a while when they want to be "hand-driving drivers" when parking.