What is Parking Assist?
A Comprehensive Guide to Parking Assist
It’s no secret that driver assistance technologies
are becoming a more popular feature in modern cars and are likely to be a staple in the future of the automotive industry. By automating some of the most common driving practices, such as parking, these technologies can help remove the inherent risks and difficulties of common driving experiences.
Parking Assist was one of the first autonomous technologies to be developed and fitted into modern-day cars and continues to be one of the most talked about. At Kia, our very own Remote Smart Park Assist continues to improve safety, enhance convenience and push the future of driving forward.
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What is Parking Assist?
Park Assist is an autonomous driving system that uses sensor technology to park a vehicle remotely. Often referred to as self-parking technology, smart parking systems effectively enable you to park your vehicle without driving it yourself.
Competing park assist programmes all operate slightly differently, but all are fitted with parking sensors in the front, side and rear of the vehicle. When the system is activated, these cameras scan the area around the car, detecting any objects or obstacles in close proximity to your vehicle.
There are four main types of parking assistance programmes, all with varying autonomous capabilities:
• Steering-assisted parking – This is the most common and basic park assist technology. Once activated, it will control the steering wheel to manoeuvre into the space and display messages telling the driver when to accelerate, brake or switch gears.
• Park and exit assistance – This system operates in the same way as steering-assisted parking but can also get you out of a parking space, as well as into it.
• Fully automated parking – As the name suggests, fully automated parking can control all the processes your car uses to park, including braking, acceleration and changing gear. These systems usually have a button that the driver must hold down during the whole process. The driver can stop the system at any time by releasing the button.
• Remote control parking – This is the most autonomous, advanced and intelligent parking assist system. Remote control parking can park your vehicle via the car key or smartphone app, without anyone having to be inside the car.
As leaders in innovation, Kia’s own version of Park Assist uses some of the most high-tech, autonomous sensor technology to provide remote control parking. Kia’s Remote Smart Parking Assist (RSPA) enables our drivers to manoeuvre their Kia in and out of tight parking spaces using just the car key.
Watch the video below to find out more about exactly how RSPA can seamlessly park your Kia into even the tightest spot, hassle-free.
What are the benefits of parking assist?
Parking assist doesn’t only remove the internal stress of squeezing into a tight spot, it also comes with lots of other benefits that complement your overall driving experience. These include:
• Improved safety – The main pro of parking assist, and indeed all autonomous driving technologies, is improved safety. By automating the parking process, the risk of accidents caused by human error is reduced, improving overall safety.
• Better precision – Smart car parking systems use very high-tech sensors to manoeuvre into spaces. These are extremely precise and can help to avoid dinks or scratches when squeezing into tight spots.
• Greater accessibility and more choice – Knowing you have parking assist on your side is great when it comes to hunting for a parking spot. With greater precision, you’ll feel confident manoeuvring into smaller spaces, giving you more choice of where to park.
• Peace of mind – Parking is a common frustration and often a worry for many drivers. Having a car fitted with parking assist eliminates this worry and provides peace of mind that you’ll be able to park easily and stress-free.
• Higher resale value – As driver assistance technologies
like park assist become increasingly common in modern cars, having a car fitted out with a remote parking assistance system will increase its resale value. This will only become more and more true as these technologies continue to develop and become the norm.
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Leading the charge towards future-focused technology
At Kia, we are continuing to push boundaries with our in-car technology, so you can feel relaxed and confident behind the wheel. Our Remote Smart Park Assist does just that by eliminating the frustration and stress that comes with parking. Many of our top cars come fitted with RSPA, including the award-winning Sportage,
EV6
and the Niro,
as well as the upcoming Kia EV9.
Remote smart park assist is just one of the autonomous driving technologies that come with Kia’s tech offering. Our cars boast a suite of safety assist features, such as Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist, Highway Drive Assist, Navigation-Based Smart Cruise Control, and more. Our exciting range of electric cars
also showcases pioneering technologies unique to EVs, such as Vehicle to Load.
Explore more of our pioneering driver assistance systems
and discover how Kia is leading the charge in building the driving experience of tomorrow.
Images shown are for illustration purposes only and may not be to full UK specification. Features shown are not standard across the Kia model range and availability will vary dependant on model. For further details please refer to the individual model specification sheets.