GM has filed a patent application for a new intelligent parking assist system designed to reduce parking violations for the user.
The GM patent filing has been assigned application number US 2022/0351622 A1 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and was published November 3rd, 2022. The patent was originally filed on April 28th, 2021, and lists several Michigan-based engineers as the inventors, including Lawrence A. Bush, Prabhjot Kaur, Alexander Telosa, and Upali P. Mudalige.
The patent describes an intelligent park assist system that uses onboard sensors and connected technology to determine if an available parking space is either valid or invalid. The system leverages visual cameras, radar, GPS, and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication to gather information on relevant parking restrictions, including parking signs, fire hydrants, and the like. The system also integrates with advanced park assist systems (both autonomous and semi-autonomous) to guide and park the vehicle in a valid parking spot.
If a user attempts to park in a spot that is determined to be invalid, the driver will be issued a warning via the driver information center. What’s more, the system can be used to automatically initiate a parking payment transaction, such as through the onboard navigation display, or through the user’s smartphone.
The intelligent park system is also described in a series of flowcharts that describe the various onboard systems and how they interact with one another.
This new intelligent park system would prove particularly useful in congested urban settings where it may not be immediately obvious which parking spots are valid and which are not. Quickly paying for parking via the onboard infotainment system would also be highly convenient, especially for those users in a rush. Finally, these sorts of systems could prove critical for fully autonomous vehicles, which may need to determine which parking spots are valid and which are not without any external input from passengers.
Subscribe to GM Authority for more GM patent filing news, GM technology news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Comments
What ever happened to driver awareness, attention to detail and responsibility?
This might be a necessity for the cell phone generation.
Amazing. The dumbing down of the motorist. Take total thinking and awareness away.