A Mercedes as parking space locator

BOSCH has teamed up with Mercedes-Benz for the perfect driving aid - a parking spot locator.

To simplify the search for kerbside parking spaces, Bosch and Daimler, the manufacturer of Mercedes-Benz vehicles, have launched a pilot project for community-based parking in Stuttgart, Germany.

This is how it works: cars which are looking for a parking space (receiver cars) and cars that are already parked (transmitter cars) form the "community" and each uses ultrasonic sensors already integrated into the vehicle.

As transmitter vehicles drive through the city, they identify available spaces, even if the driver is not looking to park.

This data is made available to receiver vehicles, anonymised and newly processed as a matter of course.

No other equipment is needed as the collected data is sent from the Daimler Vehicle Backend via a secure data link to the Bosch IoT Cloud for analysis.

This means zero infrastructure requirements, making it a clever cost-efficient solution.

Now, if only it could be applied here in the frustratingly congested Geylang and Boat Quay areas.