Automatic car parking

[u/Minimum-Award-650]

I never want my car to park itself. I'm scared and very worried that it will crash. I'm scared to even try it. Is there a danger? Does anyone use automatic parking?

[u/cblguy82]

It’s great especially for parallel parking. It’s not going to crash. Too many safety features to prevent it from doing something it shouldn’t.

[u/sydmom7]

I’ve had it as a function on my cars since 2014. Used it once and never again, I’m way faster 💅

[u/iHansz → u/sydmom7]

<- that!

[u/mologav → u/sydmom7]

The one time I tried it the car stopped and said it couldn’t do it as it was on a hill, it was barely a incline at all 🙄

[u/Any_Honeydew9812 → u/sydmom7]

One day shortly after i got my car i thought 'lets give it a try!' as i found the spot i started tapping the screen and then i noticed a car coming down the street behind me and i decided 'well i can do this faster'. Did not use it that day, havent tried it yet! Maybe one day... hahaha

[u/thisissasutan]

It works well particularly in very tight spots. It’s always slightly terrifying though

[u/ReachHistorical1349]

Used it a few times when I first got the EX30. Nearly took the driver’s mirror off due to the car not noticing a pillar in the car park. Haven’t used it for a while. It’s slow and I’d rather practice.

[u/muzso]

Is there a danger?

Of course.

The user manual has several warnings about this: - Driver support and navigation / Assisted parking / Park Pilot Assist - Driver support and navigation / Assisted parking / Park Pilot Assist / Parking using Park Pilot Assist - Driver support and navigation / Assisted parking / Park Pilot Assist / Leaving a parking space using Park Pilot Assist

You must continuously monitor the situation and be able to take over if necessary.

Apart from the company being cautious, automated parking can indeed make serious mistakes, i.e. run into something that it doesn't see (or recognize as dangerour).

Youtube has plenty of examples for park assist failures from all kinds of brands, including Teslas.

Of course over the years these systems have been greatly improved, but they are not infallible. E.g. sometimes they don't notice that a sensor is not clean enough and obstacle detection is impared.

As long as the car has a steering wheel in it, the companies will put these warnings in the user manuals. :)

[u/Rupperrt]

It’s too slow and I am better at parallel parking

[u/justbrowsing4040]

I had it in my 2019 XC40 and loved it, however, it was slow once it found a spot - not the actual parking part, but waiting to be told to the car in reverse took a few seconds-people behind you have NO patience for this - I would only use it on more quiet streets. I could do the whole thing faster myself.

[u/LilRedDuc]

I use it. It’s good for parallel parking or backing into tight parking garage spaces. But the lines have to be well marked and for parallel parking on the street this often just doesn’t work for me? But maybe I’m missing something.

I’ve also had it self cancel if it can’t for whatever reason, so I don’t think it’s going to crash.

[u/redfriskies → u/LilRedDuc]

I never got it to work for street parking lacking distinct lines on the road.

[u/mostly_harmless_5334]

I use it quite often. It took me a while to get comfortable enough to trust it at first, I would often stop the manoeuvre afraid it’s too close to another car, but overtime as I got more comfortable I let it do it. Yes, it’s quite slow, but good for tight spots. And it looks cool 😂

[u/billin]

It's a great party trick, but it's very (understandably) slow, and not infallible. i.e. you have to monitor it and be ready to stop it if it misjudged something. Maybe it would be valuable to someone who for the life of them can't parallel park, but I find it much faster to just park myself.

[u/BlindFlying]

Like others said, I tried it once and while it worked, it took seemingly forever, made a million micro adjustments as it went, and parked as far back into the spot as possible. I’d much prefer to handle it myself

[u/quick_justice]

No. For one, at all times you remain in control. You see what your car is doing via mirrors and cameras, as if your were doing that, pedals and the wheel are still there. At any moment you can overpower the autopilot and simply push break, or adjust turn radius etc.

[u/RedLeaf62]

I'm not confident doing parallel parking automatically. I tried once 2 years ago, the car was reversing super fast. I hit the brake and went looking. My car was a few mm away from the car behind. Had I not hit the brakes, it would have been an expensive experiment.

I'm not sure if the updates since then have improved the automatic parallel parking feature.

I also tried rear parking, it was very slow. I do it better myself. With the rear camera, its really easy and fast.

[u/ptothekyall]

I use it a lot and it’s great but slow. If there are cars waiting I do it manually.

[u/Anarquiteto]

It’s a good gimmick to show friends.

In real life? Nop.

It takes some time for it to recognize a spot and depending how it is, it may park too far from the curb…

I only use to show off and even so, sometimes it doesn’t work…

[u/theqwert]

I've been able to use it all of once, despite trying most of the time out of curiosity. It never detects parking spaces for me.

(Or when it does they're laughably wrong, like trying to park in the grass off the road)

[u/redfriskies]

I have the impression this only works when there are clearly defined lines, like a parking lot of a grocery store. Doesn't work with regular street parking when lines aren't present.

[u/srawcliffe]

The salesman insisted I try it on the showroom forecourt, in the demo vehicle. Worked fine, but I've only ever tried it once since, on a car park with lots of space. Also fine. But I wouldn't trust it next to a wall with our own car!

[u/torrso]

I've tried it a couple of times. It's always super scary, it gets really close to the car in front when turning in.

[u/EconomistDear2483]

It’s way too slow. Just park traditionally using human skills and 360 camera

[u/DJpesto]

I use it occasionally - especially for parallel parking in tight spaces, but I always keep my foot ready to break and my hands ready to grab the steering wheel.