No…no…don’t park it…re-park it for me!
We’ve all seen the commercials where a driver eyes a parking space right in front of their favorite shop/cafe, s/he slowly pulls up to the spot, sizing it up and then and takes their hands off the steering wheel and the car magically begins to park itself. Admittedly, that is a very cool feature and I think I might actually let my car park for me; it’s not that I really need to have my car do it…but lets face it..its looks really cool…and thats probably the most important part of the whole experience. From a utility perspective though, how important is this feature? I mean, I’m actually already in the car…driving…about to park. So, in truth, this is really more of a small convenience and if it’s really a tight fit I don’t know if I actually trust my car enough to give it the reigns.
So, it really got me thinking…how could I improve the utility of this feature. Well, for me, someone who lives in the city, there are times wherein I would be eternally grateful if my car would park for me. No…not park…re-park for me. In my neighborhood everyone just parks along the street and there are no marked spaces. As show in the picture, it’s pretty much a free-for-all and sometimes folks leave a lot of space between their car and the surrounding cars. I can’t help but shake my head when I look out the window and see the *ginormous* spaces between the cars parked on my street. Actually, it can be *really* frustrating (especially late at night) because it obviously reduces the number of available spots for everyone else…c’mon people! This is the perfect opportunity for my fancy wheels do it’s parking (or should I say re-parking) magic. I, Tony Wilson, authorize my car to “re-park” itself on my behalf when I’m not behind the wheel. No, I’m serious! I envision it would work something like this, if my car detects another car less then half a car link away it should start the engine and re-park itself approximately 2 feet from the car. Of course, the normal safety precautions would be engaged, precautions like keeping the re-parking speed under 2 mph and stopping when an object is detected obstructing the path.
A situation like this is really the perfect time for me to say “C’mon car…do your re-parking magic”. Technology making life more convenient, that’s what I want.
