Ford announces new self-parking technology

Associated Press ^ | December 30, 2008

[Free ThinkerNY]

NEW YORK (AP) — Sit back, relax and let your car parallel park itself — without a single scratch or ding to your bumper.

That's what Ford Motor Co. said Tuesday about its new self-parking technology, which it announced will debut as an option on the 2010 Lincoln MKS sedan and the new seven-passenger Lincoln MKT luxury crossover vehicle.

[Centurion2000]

NEW YORK (AP) — Sit back, relax and let your car parallel park itself — without a single scratch or ding to your bumper.

Pass, some things are not worth handing off to the machine. Get back to me when it can drive you home from the bar. Now THAT would be exciting technological innovation.

[massgopguy]

“Take me drunk I’m home.”

[Proud2BeRight]

Wonder if it will work any better than it did on that ricegrinder that had it a couple years ago? It was a stupid feature on that ricer and it’s a stupid feature on a Ford. If you can’t park, you shouldn’t drive.

[mgc1122]

If you can’t park a car, IMO you shouldn’t be driving a car. It isn’t that damned difficult.

[End Times Sentinel]

If you can’t park, you shouldn’t drive.

Agreed. However, as a city dweller, people do it anyway. Not a person on my block has a fender that isn't shanked up because suburbanites with no concept of how to parallel park use the Braille method when they come into the 'hood.

If it saves just one fender from abrasion, it's worth it. Think of the fenders people, WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE FENDERS?

[Vaquero]

what a waste of time and money...

[Edizzl79]

great 30 more sensors to fix to get your car inspected.

[rahbert]

Next they’ll be coming out with an automatic flip-the-bird
feature...

[JimSEA]

What they really need is a car that will find you a parking place downtown!!

[bigbob]

Boy, it’s sure nice to see Detroit “getting back to building teh kind of vehicles the American People want and need”.

[gieriscm]

I’m not impressed. Now, if that gizmo can parallel park a dually pickup with a four-horse gooseneck trailer I’d seriously consider it.

[Scythian]

great 30 more sensors to fix to get your car inspected.

Exactly, let's stop and think about this for a moment. All this technology they are adding causes pollution, a higher carbon footprint, more maintenance and so on. So what, we don't have to parallel park? Can we have our bailout money back?

[norraad]

Can we have our bailout money back?

And, if we can't, then we should get to vote on what car they make, start with some 57' chevys and go from there.

Each year make a great car from the past.

What would you like to see?

[count-your-change]

How about putting all those great minds to work on designing a vehicle that is easy to get into and out? Or that has a diagnostic system beyond those stupid codes and warning lights? On that would show a screen with possible problems? Or perhaps one with leg room in the back for someone other than little kids who were never fed well?

But noooo, it’s self parking which no one can or will use.

[Scythian]

One of my favorite cars was a 1975 Cutlass Supreme, I loved that car, 350 rocket in it. When you opened the hood all that was there was the engine, with two feet of empty space on all sides, beautiful, too bad I was young and treated the car like crap. Mine was Royal Blue with a White Vinyl top.

[norraad]

Many of those cars were real fun cruisers to tool around in!

We should force "our" car factories to combine all the bits we liked about those creatures into one beast for one of the "model years" of our choosing.

[Edizzl79]

As if parallel parking is that hard anyways?! If you cant parallel park on your own, you probably shouldn’t be driving in the first place!

[WOBBLY BOB]

“I don’t know about you, but when I was taking my driving test, parallel parking was the most stressful part,” he said.

great solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.
if that’s ‘stressful’, we’re doomed .

[Brett66]