How Does Park Assist Work?

Are you confident enough to let your car’s computer park for you?

Cat Dow

By: Cat Dow

Sep 26, 2017 at 8:56am ET

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Park Assist technology is yet another driver assist feature set to make us safer drivers. But does it really work?

Entry-level vehicles come with the basic rear camera, sensors and around-view monitoring features, but bag yourself a premium model, like the Tesla Model S, and the car will park for you entirely autonomously. We look at different types of park assist functions in this video.

In truth, we had problems in each of the models we tested. Though park assist technology is the age of a toddler, manufacturers do tend to set the expectation that this function is all singing and dancing from the off. That is not the case.

When it comes to basic park assist features, technology is operating at its finest. It’s making life easier and it’s getting you parked faster, straighter and with less chance of a low-speed bump. But if you’re looking to opt for the more advanced park assist packages, be aware that the technology is going to take some time to be as perfect as we’d like it to be.

What do you think?

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The truth is, computers struggle to understand things like road camber and the software is programmed to ensure there’s sufficiently generous margins on each side of the car. That results in it parking a tidal Thames-width away from the kerb in many instances.

When it does work though, it’s mega. It really is.