BMW Remote Valet is an experimental system that allows for your car to be remotely operated by a driver using video screens and remote controls not unlike those used for racing simulators. It uses existing hardware in the car, including forward and reverse cameras, as well as those for the 360-degree surround-view parking cameras. The practical applications for BMW Remote Valet are you’d basically have a valet parking person everywhere you went, saving you lots of time, hassle and walking. The practical hindrances are government regulations, cell service limitations (specifically in multi-story and underground parking garages), and scale of adoption.
Transcript- So we are at CES in Las Vegas, and as you can see there, that is a BMW iX. You can also see that there is no one in the car driving. That doesn't mean that there's no one driving, however. No, no, let's go over here. There's Autoblog zone Byron Heard. This would be demonstrating BMW new remote valet. So in theory, you drive up in your BMW iX.
You go, drop it off at the valet. And instead of a gentleman in a red vest taking your car God knows where, a nice person in a remote facility with this remote contraption here will instead take over your car and drive it safely to a parking spot. Now Byron would you like to comment about the ease in which you are doing this?
BYRON HEARD: It does not feel like the video game that it looks like. The throttle is not sensitive at all, which is intentional for safety, feels detached, which I'm sure you can imagine, but the responses are pretty immediate apart from the throttle.
- And this and this takes advantage of existing hardware in the car. So you can see here that. That's a forward camera. There's a reverse camera. It does have the 360-degree parking camera functionality, all coming together. As you can see here, it does have a third pedal, not that you're going to need that, but, again, existing hardware. Now, again, this would be operated by a trained professional.
BYRON HEARD: Which I am not.
- Which he is not, and Byron is not a trained professional, and yet, again, hasn't hit anything.
BYRON HEARD: Yes.
- But he looks very talented [INAUDIBLE]
- Presumably, this would be more difficult in an actual parking garage, but this would also with remote parking and no driver needed allow you to park cars a lot tighter together. So there is a benefit to that. So any parting words here, Mr. driver?
BYRON HEARD: This is really cool. It's not quite James Bond returning a car to Avis, and what was it Munich, Berlin?
- At Hamburg.
BYRON HEARD: Hamburg.
- Yeah, Hamburg. Yes
BYRON HEARD: But it is pretty cool as tech goes. And Yeah, it should be.
- Yeah, so obviously, Mr. Bond was able to drive a little quicker with his phone 25 years ago. But real progress takes time. All right, so there we have it. Here you can see, yes, our man Byron at the helm of that car over there continuing to not crash. Well done, buddy.
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