Bosch and Ford will test autonomous parking in Detroit

Ford, Bosch, and Dan Gilbert's real estate firm Bedrock today detailed an autonomous parking pilot scheduled to launch at The Assembly, a mixed-used building in Detroit, in September. Leveraging Bosch sensors that monitor driving corridors and their surroundings to guide vehicles to and from assigned spaces, Ford plans to demo how its cars can self-drive to parking spaces without human drivers onboard. The autonomous parking valet -- which the companies claim is the first of its kind in the U.S. -- leans on a range of intelligent infrastructure supplied by Bosch, including lidar sensors, stereo cameras, and a dedicated server. Complementary in-car Ford technology converts commands into driving maneuvers, enabling cars to drive themselves up and down ramps and spot potential hazards (including pedestrians). Upon arriving at the garage, drivers will leave the test vehicle in a designated area and use an app to send it into an automated parking maneuver.