Since quite a while, people are more and more helped in driving their cars. At the beginning it was the power steering wheel, then the ABS, the ESP which helped the driver to brake and now companies offer even better options. Now Ford offers a system that allows cars to park themselves.

How does it works ?
Ford Active Park assist is activated by pressing a button, this in turn activates the ultrasonic sensors that will identify and measure any possible parallel parking space. When the system finds a suitable parking space, it will ask the driver to confirm. The system takes the car into the parking space while the driver is hands free. The driver must still control the pedals but the system is efficient because it can reduces the risks of damages of the vehicle and of the other vehicles that sourrounds it.
Why this technology is so amazing ?
In 2009 BMW and Mercedes created a similar system on their cars but we all know that those type of cars are not the most affordable. By adapting this high class technology on basic cars, Ford offers the possibility to buy a car which integrates a quality option at an affordable price. Ford says that there are other reasons to explain the creation of such a system. For example the wider size of the cars but also the reduced spaces of parking places and of course the high density of the cars. As we can see people can have two or three cars in one family and it’s sometimes diificult to park them in a garage or into small parking spaces.
But Ford works on other systems like the Active City Stop that scan the road and prevent low speed collisions and the Lane keeping Aid that steers the car back into lane if the friver drifts off. Ford is creating new technologies at standrad prices but will those technologies reduce the driver skills ? We will see that in the next few years.
 
Amina ZAOUECHE
Etudiante en Master 2 Commerce Electronique à l’Université de Strasbourg

A propos de Amina Zaoueche