There's an experiment going on inside Bedrock's Assembly Garage in Detroit that'll sound especially interesting for those who despise looking for parking spaces. Ford has teamed up with Bosch to demonstrate an automated valet parking technology that makes it possible for a vehicle to maneuver and park itself inside a parking structure. The demonstration project, which will last until the end of September, uses connected Ford Escape test vehicles that can communicate with Bosch sensors installed in the Assembly Garage. This driver-assist technology/sensor combo gives the test vehicles the power to find empty parking spots, to avoid objects and persons in their path and, finally, to park themselves without human intervention. With the technology in place, drivers can step out of their vehicles in a designated area and then simply use an app to start the automated parking process.

As the journey towards self-driving cars gathers pace the first facility in the UK to develop self-parking cars is under construction in Warwickshire. 'Trusted Autonomous Parking' (Park-IT) is being created by Nuneaton-based global engineering firm, HORIBA MIRA, in partnership with Coventry University. The project will see the creation of a multi-storey car park, on-road parking bays and parking lot environments at the MIRA Proving Ground. Once complete the facility will provide real-world parking situations to support the development of self-parking cars. The parking areas will be co-located in the HORIBA MIRA City Circuit, a safe, comprehensible and fully controllable purpose-built'cityscape' test track environment.

A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. Tesla cars will be able to find a parking spot on their own in 2019, CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday. Musk described the technology as a "slightly smarter version" of the automaker's Autopark feature, which currently enables a Tesla to parallel park or perpendicular park on its own once the car is next to a clearly marked open spot. "By next year, a Tesla should be able to drive around a parking lot, find an empty spot, read signs to confirm it's valid & park," Musk said on Twitter. It's not clear whether the automaker will require someone to be in the driver's seat. It's currently illegal on most American roads for a car to operate without someone in it, but many parking lots are located on private property.

Tesla's Model 3 sedans can now park themselves after the firm beamed an over-the-air update to the all-electric cars this week. The feature was already available in the Model S and Model X and lets Tesla owners push a button to have their car pull in or out of parking spaces. Called Summon, it also allows the vehicles to open and close garage doors and power down without a driver behind the wheel. Tesla's Model 3 sedans can now park themselves after Elon Musk's firm pushed out a new software update to the all-electric vehicles this week Once they get the wireless update, released Thursday, owners must line up their Model 3 to within 33 feet (10m) of a space to park. They must then stand within ten feet (3m) and direct the car to park itself using the key fob or Tesla's smartphone app.

Japan's Nissan Motor Co is displaying its self-parking slippers at its corporate headquarters in Yokohama, as Jim Drury reports. A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. Japan's Nissan Motor Co is displaying its self-parking slippers at its corporate headquarters in Yokohama, as Jim Drury reports.

The concept of a self-parking car certainly isn't new, but Daimler is about to take the next logical step on that front. It's partnering with Bosch to launch an Automated Valet Parking service at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. When it launches at the start of 2018, anyone (not just museum guests) can rent cars that will not only drive themselves out, but park themselves upon return. You just need a smartphone app to both make the reservation and the virtual handover when you're done. The key is the combination of Mercedes' self-driving tech with Bosch's smart car park grid.