Car parking is a stultifying chore, be it on the garage or open ground. Nothing is more tiring than driving in endless circles around a seemingly full packed airport.
At present, the threat of parking space crisis has led to the increasing popularity of automated car parking systems. Just like traffic signals, parking that automatically stores and retrieves cars is becoming a common sight.
In this regard, a Paris-based robotics startup looks to take the keys from the drivers and put them in the hands of an automated valet parking system. Stanley Robotics is a startup created in January 2015 in Paris, France.
Meet Stan, the super robot!
For the starters, the startup is working on a robot called Stan in an attempt to minimize the time wasted in searching for space and to make airport parking lots more efficient. Stan works with all kinds of cars and can pick up from the entrance and park it at the designated place.
Upon return of the customer, it brings it back through management software based on the concepts employed in automation factory to move pallets around.
This robotic valet parking doesn’t need your key as it clamps your wheels, lifts the entire car and moves it around. Once the car is in a parking space, Stan puts the car down.
Stan could be the future of parking lots
For the first time in the world, Stanley Robotics’ outdoor automated robotic valet system, developed in partnership with Aéroports de Lyon, was presented in operation on Thursday, March 14.
According to the company, this valet system will be offered on a large scale to airport passengers in the coming weeks: 500 spaces will soon be available in car park P5+ at Lyon-Saint Exupéry airport, with 4 autonomous robots operating simultaneously and 12 cabins to accommodate and return vehicles.
Experts behind Stan!
The company was founded by Clément Boussard (CEO), Aurélien Cord (CTO) and Stéphane Evanno (COO), previously worked on autonomous car technologies in the biggest research institutes (INRIA, IFSTTAR) and in a world-renowned industrial company (Robert Bosch GmbH).
It’s worth mentioning that the team at Stanley robotics spent two years designing and developing the robot and to allow it to park cars automatically. As per the company claims, around 20,000 to 30,000 cars can be taken over by a single robot in a year.
How does it work?
After booking a parking space on the Lyon Airport website with a few clicks, the passenger can drop their vehicle in a dedicated cabin, then reach the terminals via the shuttle located in the immediate vicinity. The valet robot then picks up the car and parks it in the secure parking lot.
Upon returning from a trip the passenger recovers their available vehicle in one of the cabins. There are multiple advantages: security, simplicity and time saving, with the online reservation of a parking space, pick-up/drop-off of the vehicle at a single point.
Since the system knows your itinerary cars can be double-parked until needed, increasing the parking space up to 50 per cent in a lucrative sector of the air travel industry.
Sustainable vision is the end goal
The robotic valet project reduces the footprint by creating 50% more spaces in the same surface area through increased parking density and block parking.
Further, it limits CO2 emissions by eliminating passenger vehicle traffic on parking lots. Notably, the robots operate with an electric motor that does not emit CO2.
Road Ahead!
The objective is naturally, to continue the development and further increase the capacity of this innovative car park. While some experts believe that cars will be able to drop passengers and park themselves automatically, Stan will be able to handle all the chore till the driver is human.
Clément Boussard, CEO of Stanley Robotics:
We are proud to be leading this operation with Aéroports de Lyon, and to be able to present to the world, for the first time, the operation of Stanley Robotics’ outdoor valet robot service. We have designed the service to be the simplest and most enjoyable experience for the users. In addition, our solution meets the sustainable growth needs of our partners VINCI Airports and Aéroports de Lyon, which allows us to envisage long-term collaboration.
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