- 30% of vanmen say small slots ‘biggest annoyance’
- VW Park Assist tech takes on the squeeze
- No more smirks when parallel parking
MILTON KEYNES, England – UK van drivers rank small parking spaces as their biggest annoyance so VW has created Park Assist technology and organised a contest to show how it performs against the world’s best parker, world record holder and professional stunt driver Alastair Moffatt.
The UK’s van drivers, collectively, are being fined the equivalent of about R450-million a year for ikkegal or poor parking.**
So, Moffatt took on the challenge…
He and Park Assist each had to parallel-park a 5.9m VW Crafter in a space 7.5m long – with an added twist that Moffatt would be completing his manoeuvre as a handbrake turn. The result was impressive: each successful mastered the Art of Parking, although Park Assist was certainly the more relaxing option.
VW’s Park Assist tech has ultrasonic sensors in the front bumper to scan the space for size. After reverse gear has been selected, the technology puts the van into the best starting position and steers automatically into the space. The driver merely controls the steering, brakes and clutch..
Sarah Cox, head of marketing at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, told The Corner: “Our Working With You brand promise is there to help VW customers with all aspects of owning a van:
READ MORE VW features on Carman’s Corner
“We want to help our customers park their vans in the safest and most accurate way to avoid fines and reduce stress but the system was a perfect match for Moffatt, and a slightly less hair-raising manoeuvre!”
Moffatt holds the world record for tightest single, double, triple and reverse parallel park. He told The Corner in a media release: “I was really impressed by how nimble the Crafter proved to be – handbrake-turning such a big vehicle isn’t always easy. I’ve spent years mastering the art of parking but taking on Park Assist was a real challenge.
”It was 100% accurate every time – I really had to be on the top of my game to match it.”
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I have to admit the handbrake turn version was more impressive in many ways although if the Amazon driver coming to my house has my fragile parcel on board I would prefer he used park assist.