BMW’s valet parking test trades red vests for remote driving rigs
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I was going to mention potential lag spikes being dangerous for remote operated cars, especially in a parking lot with people around...but at those speeds, not worried so much. Hopefully they also have it set so even a momentary disconnection defaults to braking.
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So really just a valet that uses a remote control to park your car.
The big question is (at least prior to the full self driving option) is adding the sensors and other upgrades to the garage worth it? Maybe the remote Valet can handle more cars than one in person, but that also removes the personal touch for those who do use a valet service.
The big question is (at least prior to the full self driving option) is adding the sensors and other upgrades to the garage worth it? Maybe the remote Valet can handle more cars than one in person, but that also removes the personal touch for those who do use a valet service.
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So if the car picks an otherwise reasonable-looking parking space but it turns out to be a no-parking zone, will BMW pay the ticket?
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Who do I tip? BMW probably, based of their desire for subscription services.
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The sensor approach is interesting and a bit weird to me. "Embedded" suggests pavement embedded, which in turn implies the sensors being bonded to the pavement surface or buried in the paving process. Most U.S. surface lots are asphalt pavement and need periodic resurfacing; I'm not sure how common that is in Europe, but it would seem like in many cases this embedded infrastructure is going to need to be uprooted semi-regularly. Is that really cost-effective when all you're saving is the time it takes the valet to walk the lot?
I'll also add that sitting in front of a screen exclusively rather than mixing driving and walking is absolutely terrible for your health.
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Parking garages. These don't get resurfaced every so often, most of them never.
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Long before actual Moon landings, NASA considered remote driving on the Moon. They fitted a Jeep with remote controls, a TV camera, and a 2.5 second delay to simulate the round-trip signal time. Nobody came close to being able to drive it.
They had no reason to try to find the actual driveability threshold. I suspect it's around 50 to 100 milliseconds, about where human reflexes operate. Braking is not necessarily an optimal disconnect/lag response if other remote parking operators are working concurrently.
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valets will never be replaced because 9/10 it is a captive parking lot where if you want to park for the event/exclusive restaurant/facility/sport game
you either find your own parking 30 minutes away or accept the valet moving cars around.
you either find your own parking 30 minutes away or accept the valet moving cars around.
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Lotsa that going on in the old, major city where I live. Valet parking makes much better use of the available lot/garage space than letting individual car owners do the parking. Only one that I know didn't work was the valet who drove my wife's BMW Isetta up to a brick wall, then found the door was blocked, then could not find reverse. He stayed there until my wife got back.
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I am somehow worried that someone is going to offshore this to a low cost location to save a few bucks....
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Yes, that system works because the cars are left unlocked, with the keys in the ignition, to make it simple to move a car or two out of the way to get to the ones in front.
- no security issues there!
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I've been driving for around 30 years and on three continents. I've only encountered it once in Ft. Lauderdale. And it was fairly pointless too, it saved us maybe a 1 minute walk. And then you have to worry about tipping etc. I'd much rather park it myself.
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I've seen some people's dash cam videos of valet parking, especially at special themed events when someone brings a stick shift and they can't figure out how to move it revving the shit outa stuff and stalling.
Its also kinda slow and inconvenient because if you forget something in the car you gotta wait like 20 min for the valet to retrieve your car then annoy them by immediately saying they can put it away after getting whatever you left, instead of being able to just walk to the garage/lot and grab something.
I've also had them not thrilled as I sit clogging the little pickup/dropoff trying to tetris all the stuff (in some cases its like a couple hotel-carts worth of luggage with hobby/demo supplies, costumes, plus clothing and usual travel bags) from attending a major event into the car...because I can't load it a little at a time while its in the garage if its valet-only parking like I usually do. I think the worst was when we had 3 vehicles (1 for people+personal items, 2 for vendor/event/booth stuff) and they wanted everyone to leave the property after their car was retrieved...but we were tearing down an event booth that filled 2 vehicles and required everyone there, then had to haul our hotel-room belongings down to the 3rd vehicle of personal stuff before we could actually leave. Yeah they weren't thrilled with that, but it was a valet-only venue hosting the event.
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I've encountered it multiple times, but only at one particular hotel-conference center which is valet-only and has exceptionally limited hours and access to self-parking anywhere in the immediate area (much of which was removed to create bike-lanes on my last trip there). And it SUCKED, but we had little choice.
I'd much rather park myself and walk, but that only applies if its not hauling all your gear multiple blocks away and you won't be locked in nights/weekends (because apparently some cities have private-run parking lots/garages that has "business hours" and will lock all the cars in when they "close"?)
I even bought my own folding rolling cart so I can strap luggage to it and not have to worry about waiting ages for hotel bell-hop carts to move stuff (and the associated rules not taking them out to parkinglots)...because then its so much less stress and pressure to leisurely load/unload while parked with nobody waiting behind you.
You know what's fun is watching first-timers to an event show up at a valet-only venue with a high-top van or towing a large trailer only to be told there's nowhere that it can fit to be parked, and that they weren't warned in advance it had vehicle limitations. I had one where I even called and had a hard time getting an answer on max parking garage vehicle height from a hotel's own valet. That was concerning if they don't know their garage height limits and are parking people's vehicles inside it.
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Given what they were looking to charge for deigning to allow the heaters built into the seats to function I can only imagine that a valet will be cheaper....
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I just recently did a trip to DC and all the major hotels in the downtown area were valet-only. It was fine because everything was within walking distance though.
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The local casino had free valet parking. It was nice. Rather then navigating a parking garage with lots of people rushing around let the professionals move it according to their system. It was painless.
Citation: I've used the casino parking garage during comic con/other events. If you pick the wrong time to leave you can be sitting there for 10-15 minutes. Or worse - if come during setup you can be blocked in while unloading and then well you might as make friends with other people unloading as you will be staying for a bit
Citation: I've used the casino parking garage during comic con/other events. If you pick the wrong time to leave you can be sitting there for 10-15 minutes. Or worse - if come during setup you can be blocked in while unloading and then well you might as make friends with other people unloading as you will be staying for a bit
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Our local VA has a free valet service. Tipping is forbidden. If you've got a midday appointment it's the only way to get a spot. The walkable self parking spots are full by 9 am. Sometimes you can find one around lunch time.
I've only encountered one valet only hotel. I had a stick shift Dart. There was a loading zone off the looped driveway. They had me back my Red Dart in there with the Red Ferrari that apparently none of them could drive
I've only encountered one valet only hotel. I had a stick shift Dart. There was a loading zone off the looped driveway. They had me back my Red Dart in there with the Red Ferrari that apparently none of them could drive
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If we ever needed an indicator of how far full self driving is away from prime time, this is it.
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Can't speak for others but even before I could afford nice cars, I refused to valet my car. If I was/am going to a valet-only restaurant or something I park as close as I can and then walk, or uber from parking if need be.
Why? Because my brother was a valet before I could drive, and any industry out of their mind enough to employ him back in those days cannot be trusted. He'd come home from work and tell me about all the stupid shit they did that day with other peoples' cars.
edit: case in point, published today
https://jalopnik.com/watch-a-valet-take-a-mans-cadillac-ct5-v-blackwing-for-1850687285
Why? Because my brother was a valet before I could drive, and any industry out of their mind enough to employ him back in those days cannot be trusted. He'd come home from work and tell me about all the stupid shit they did that day with other peoples' cars.
edit: case in point, published today
https://jalopnik.com/watch-a-valet-take-a-mans-cadillac-ct5-v-blackwing-for-1850687285
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Valet's days may be numbered, but whoever owns the parking spaces will not be lowering the cost of parking there.
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Don't worry--if you subscribe to this service, the mandatory BMW Executive Tipping service will automatically take care of it for you. It's estimated to be a very reasonable $50 per month, depending on usage and location.
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Completely tangential, but I've always thought it weird that airport valet parking cost more per day, rather than being a flat fixed additional charge. They're only parking your car once, and only bringing it to you once, however long you're parking for.
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Because nothing is certain in this universe, I'm going to say 99% chance they would rather die than do that.
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I suggest that the author (and fellow readers) look at steer-tech.com. Anuja and her gang have been doing this autonomously for years now.
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I don’t see how this isn’t just another very narrow, controlled environment use case, like something enabled for a big convention center parking structure or something. I can’t imagine that these companies would be fine paying for, eg, all the street parking tickets, which would inevitably add up quickly with all the weird quirky shit on city streets. Ever try arguing with a meter reader over the 20 seconds you stayed too long in a spot? Also too, you know the only place I lose mobile coverage these days? A: rando big concrete parking structures.
I mean, I get that b-school types hoover up billions from overhyping use cases, but it’s so tiring. Everyone would be a lot less hopeful for flying cars if they were clued in to the only feasible real-world use case being a smaller, more nimble helicopter for rich people to get around from aviation-designated fixed points and helipads, with the need for a small-craft pilot’s license. Because, of course, we’re never going to have my 19-yo drunk nephew Jimmy cruising around in a big missile flying around at high speed above city streets, just as ValetMW isn’t going to be scattering millions of cars around random city streets and taking responsibility for the consequences. At least with “autonomous” cars there’s some spurious nuggets of plausible responsibility-avoidance. Here, this is an actual human, employed by a company, actually and intentionally piloting your car into a ditch. Sigh.
I mean, I get that b-school types hoover up billions from overhyping use cases, but it’s so tiring. Everyone would be a lot less hopeful for flying cars if they were clued in to the only feasible real-world use case being a smaller, more nimble helicopter for rich people to get around from aviation-designated fixed points and helipads, with the need for a small-craft pilot’s license. Because, of course, we’re never going to have my 19-yo drunk nephew Jimmy cruising around in a big missile flying around at high speed above city streets, just as ValetMW isn’t going to be scattering millions of cars around random city streets and taking responsibility for the consequences. At least with “autonomous” cars there’s some spurious nuggets of plausible responsibility-avoidance. Here, this is an actual human, employed by a company, actually and intentionally piloting your car into a ditch. Sigh.
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I'm surprised. In Mexico, practically every two bit restaurant has a valet parking service.
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"Who do you tip?"
(Assuming this works... )
Valet parking at wealthy places won't change. The point there is ego. Having a human being serving you. (And yes, sometimes, to have a powerless target for rudeness.)
(Assuming this works... )
Valet parking at wealthy places won't change. The point there is ego. Having a human being serving you. (And yes, sometimes, to have a powerless target for rudeness.)
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No. Hell no. Fuck no.
Then again, I'm not a rich-assed fuck who can afford state of the art BMW's, so it'll never be a feature offered or available to me. It's not a choice I'll ever make, even if I know what the choice will be.
Still, I'm often amazed at how far companies will go to automate ass-wiping and other ADL's that us mere mortals have to deal with every day just so pretentious wealthy assholes don't have to do it themselves.
In this particular case, I can't imagine the anxiety I'd feel when MY CAR took off into a dark parking lot on its own HOPING that it didn't side-swipe a Bentley as it squeezed into a parking space too small for humans to enter or exit the vehicle, and praying someone doesn't hack it to have it return to THEM and they take off with it.
I'll just offer Captain Kirk's advice when I park the car, lock the door, and set the alarm: "Everyone remember where we parked."
Then again, I'm not a rich-assed fuck who can afford state of the art BMW's, so it'll never be a feature offered or available to me. It's not a choice I'll ever make, even if I know what the choice will be.
Still, I'm often amazed at how far companies will go to automate ass-wiping and other ADL's that us mere mortals have to deal with every day just so pretentious wealthy assholes don't have to do it themselves.
In this particular case, I can't imagine the anxiety I'd feel when MY CAR took off into a dark parking lot on its own HOPING that it didn't side-swipe a Bentley as it squeezed into a parking space too small for humans to enter or exit the vehicle, and praying someone doesn't hack it to have it return to THEM and they take off with it.
I'll just offer Captain Kirk's advice when I park the car, lock the door, and set the alarm: "Everyone remember where we parked."
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(Assuming this works... )
Part of the point of valet parking is to get the cars packed in efficiently and safely.
Parking garages are particularly terrible in this regard, with incompetent (or just asshole) drivers dinging and scratching cars all over the place.
If this becomes common, I could see parking garages having a "auto-valet only" section. Maybe even giving a discount for it, since the spaces could be closer together.
Part of the point of valet parking is to get the cars packed in efficiently and safely.
Parking garages are particularly terrible in this regard, with incompetent (or just asshole) drivers dinging and scratching cars all over the place.
If this becomes common, I could see parking garages having a "auto-valet only" section. Maybe even giving a discount for it, since the spaces could be closer together.
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