At Your Service: Autonomous Valet

Daimler AG and Bosch GmbH have teamed up to develop an automated valet system for Daimler's Car2Go car-sharing business. The companies launched a pilot program in Europe this week to test the system.

Users can reserve a car using a smartphone application, then wait for it to drive itself to a pick-up zone in a specially outfitted garage. When returning to the garage, drivers exit the vehicle and it automatically finds an empty space and parks itself.

The application requires an array of cameras, sensors and sophisticated control systems in the vehicle and the parking garage. Bosch is developing the various components, including parking space occupancy sensors and the vehicle-to-infrastructure communications system.

The partners didn't provide a timeline for when they plan to commercialize the technology. But Daimler notes that fully automated parking systems will be available before fully autonomous self-driving cars.

Car2Go currently operates more than 12,000 cars in 29 cities in Europe and North America. The system claims more than 1 million customers and 400,000 rentals per week. The service was launched in Germany at the end of 2008.