Volkswagen pioneers electric car parking of the future

VOLKSWAGEN has announced its intention to be at the forefront of a parking phenomenon which will see electric vehicles park and charge themselves.

Volkswagen AG announced today that it aspires to holding the leading position in the field of automated parking and has already laid the foundations for a stress-free parking concept.

The German firm has embarked on V-Charge, an EU research project which sees six national and international partners jointly developing new technologies.

A Volkswagen Group spokesman said: “The best part about it is that the vehicle not only automatically looks for an empty parking space, but that it finds an empty space with charging infrastructure and inductively charges its battery.

“Once the charging process is finished, it automatically frees up the charging bay for another electric vehicle and looks for a conventional parking space.

“V-Charge stands for Valet Charge and is pointing the way to the future of automated parking.”

Among Volkswagen’s existing crop of automated vehicles is the eT–follow me! microvan, which will follow a delivery driver “like and obedient dog” as he walks from door-to-door.

Wolsburg-based engineers have also developed a Passat variant with an autopilot setting.