Audi thinks self-parking cars can dramatically help relieve congestion of a crowded city.
That's precisely why the automaker is working with the busy Boston suburb of Somerville to introduce self-parking cars in 2018 as part of Audi testing its traffic management initiative.
"The car will always be part of our mobility. At the same time, due to congestion and parking problems, today it shows us the limits to mobility," Somerville mayor Joseph Curtatone told Boston.com. "With technologies from Audi, we expect to be able to use the available urban space more efficiently. This enhances the quality of urban life."
According to Wired, Audi will begin piloting its self-parking car technology with a garage specifically designed for autonomous cars in 2018. Because self-parking cars are precise to the inch, Audi tells Wired that such a parking lot could fit 60 percent more vehicles than a traditional garage of the same size.
From there, Audi plans for its self-parking vehicles to be autonomously parking out of the garage and onto public streets of Somerville in 2020.
Somerville is a good testing ground, considering Audi tells Boston.com that nearly 30 percent of peak-time traffic in the city is triggered by drivers searching for parking. The combination of the automaker's self-parking cars and connected city's traffic lights should help cut into that hassle dramatically.
By lowering the amount of drivers looking for parking spaces, Audi thinks it could ease the flow of traffic from 20 to 50 percent.
The residents of Somerville will certainly take that, as will any other packed city that the effort is introduced in.
