Autoblog

Robotic parking garages haven't caught on in the U.S. like they have in other developed countries. Perhaps that's because we're not as strapped for open space as other nations, or maybe its because the only robotic parking garage in the U.S. has dropped both a Cadillac Deville and a Jeep several stories and trapped its patrons vehicles inside for 26 hours because of a software glitch. We reported on that robotic garage back in August when a legal dispute between the city of Hoboken, NJ and Robotic Parking Systems, Inc. trapped even more cars inside.

In the Big Apple, however, space for parking is at such a premium that they're willing to risk the aforementioned pit falls to give this robotic storage-and-retrieval thing the old college try. A new robotic garage will open in Chinatown in early February that, unlike the Hoboken facility, stores its cars underground beneath an apartment building. Built by Automotion Parking Systems (click link to watch a demo), the Chinatown facility will be able to fit 67 vehicles where a traditional garage could only fit 24. Patrons can pay $25/day to park or $400/month, which the AP report tells us is competitive for NYC parking. Automotion claims there's a virtual impossibility of any snafus occuring similar to the ones that plagued the parking patrons of Hoboken, though time will certainly tell on this one.

As always, we here at Autoblog would like to extend our warmest greetings to our new robotic overlords, and just say that we look forward to becoming their sole source of power after we scorch the sky.

[Source: Associated Press]

Now this has disaster spelled all over it. (If you can read Chinese.)

Chinese carmaker First Auto Works (FAW) is demonstrating a sedan that drives itself. Equipped with two cameras hooked up to a computer guidance system of some sort, the FAW Hongqi (Red Flag) HQ3 prototype is designed to navigate its way through streets, avoiding obstacles, stopping at traffic signals and hopefully mowing down a minimum of pedestrians.

FAW demonstrated the car at the Northeast Asia Investment and Trade Expo, where it was limited to a snail-pace 37 mph, though the automaker claims it could safely operate at speeds up to 93 mph. If it actually works in real life, this would mark a significant step forward from the embarrassing demonstration of Mercedes' Brake Assist PLUS system and a challenger to vehicles entering the next DARPA Grand Challenge.

Personally, I'll just be happy if it can get an egg roll and crispy beef to my house while they're still hot.

[Source: Techdirt via Engadget]