OCTOBER 31, 2009 Hands-Free Parallel Parking
By STACEY DELO Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125692805838419193.html Remember when cars said, "The door is ajar?" Gone are those simplistic days. Today's cars listen to you and may even order you to "remove your hands from the wheel." That's what a Lincoln MKS sedan directed me to do when I tested its "Active Park Assist," a $535 add-on that parallel parks your car for you. A few other auto makers offer parking assistance features, but Ford is making a big push with its own proprietary system this year. Ford's Active Park Assist is available on eight 2010 models in the Ford fleet, including Lincoln MKS and the Ford Escape, all of which have electric power steering. Ford has previously pledged that all of its models will have electric power steering by 2012, meaning this feature could be available on a lot more of their cars in the future. Technically speaking, Park Assist is a computer program that allows sensors in the front bumper to communicate with the steering wheel. When the park assist feature is activated, by pressing a button in the center console, the car flashes a message on the dashboard saying that it is searching for a space to park the car. It tells you to slow down if you're going too fastit really wants you to creep along about 20 MPH or under. When the sensors identify a spot that's big enough, the system beeps and messages you that it has found a spot. You need to use your own eyes to know if it's a legal spot; it pointed me to a few driveways and fire hydrants. Ford says the program is designed to fit the car into spots that are just 20 percent longer than the car. Once you slow down, the car directs you to pull forward from the parking spot. When it's satisfied, it tells you to put the car in reverse and remove your hands from the wheel. That's right, take them off the wheel. This was a very surreal and frightening moment for me. The first time I took my hands off the wheel, I literally gasped in shock as the car started turning into the spot on its own. A key point here: you still control the acceleration and braking. The car alerts you when to press the gas and brakes, but you can always stop it on your own. Once I figured this out, I was less worried about crashing the $47,000 loaner Lincoln MKS with Ecoboost that Ford provided me for testing purposes. And after a few times, I found that I enjoyed letting the car cut sharply to angle into a spot, then turn again to straighten out next to the curb. Surprisingly, the car performed better in tight spots. Ford says that tight spots make it easier for the sensors to calculate the space in the spot between two objects, such as a car in front and a car in back. Roomier parking spots which lacked definite objects in front and in back were more difficult to navigate. Sometimes, the car ended up far away from the curb; sometimes it jutted out in the back, and sometimes it hung over the official white lines delineating the parking spot. Ford says if the curb is not high or easy to mark, it may end up further from the curb. In cases where there is no curb at all, Ford says the car will line up with the car in front and behind. The feature requires a reverse sensing system, which is a standard feature on the model we tested. This system alerts you when you are closing in on an object behind you. The model I drove also included a rear view camera, which is not required for Active Park Assist to function. Overall, I liked Active Park Assist. But for an additional $535 on top of an already pricey car, I'd only recommend it for the deeply parking challenged. For myself, I'll still be inching my way into tight parking spots with a lot of small turns and glimpses in the rear-view mirror. ================================================= George Antunes Voice (713) 743-3923 Associate Professor Fax (713) 743-3927 Political Science Internet: antunes at uh dot edu University of Houston Houston, TX 77204-3011 *********************************** * POST TO [email protected] * *********************************** Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
