Volkswagen and Bosch develop an automatic parking and charging system for electric vehicles

European researchers and automakers are working on developing a self-steering and automatic charging and parking system. The system is called the V-Charge Consortium , a product of Bosch and Volkswagen, along with a number of researchers from Switzerland, Italy, Germany and the UK. 'V-Charge' stands for 'Valet Parking and Charging' , meaning 'automatic parking and charging'.

The idea behind this system is that the driver will leave their car at the entrance to the parking lot, then the application on their smartphone will communicate with the parking lot server and order the car into the space. This application will also be used to get the car, after it has been charged for a while while parking.

The system has now been tested at Stuttgart Airport, Germany, and is currently being finalized and expected to be completed next year. One of the major problems with this system is that the parking lot will have to be built precisely so that the car can automatically connect to the charging system when it enters the parking lot.

According to a European Commission (EU-funded project), the barrier-detection system and ultrasound sensors and other components need to be cheap enough to be integrated into electric vehicles. .

Not only Volkswagen and Bosch are pursuing the dream of an automatic parking and charging system for electric vehicles . Other companies such as Volvo, BMW, Audi and Google are also working on developing similar systems.