Several months ago Tesla unveiled the Summon feature for some of their vehicles and it seems this feature is about to be taken even farther. The Summon feature is one in which an owner can use a remote key fob and have the vehicle open the garage door, move itself into the driveway and be turned on with the climate controls running to give the owner the ability to enjoy heading out the front door to a warmed up or cooled down vehicle. This feature is so unique that another company is working to bring this along with other technologies to the Nashville area.
What will take place is the transforming of a full fifty acres of space from an ordinary parking lot area into an office space that also has retails stores, residences and parking spaces that utilize some of the most advanced technology and capabilities. This area will use things like solar panels and green roofs to help ensure the space is as efficient and eco-friendly as possible, but this will be the first parking structure in the country that will use a valet feature that’s similar to Summon to let vehicles park themselves and connect with the transportation network.
The development of a parking structure with the Summon feature allows for owners of the vehicles parked there to exit out front and the car to enter and park itself. At least that is the idea that’s on the table and as the automotive industry looks to the future with the continued development toward autonomous vehicles, we will see more of these parking spaces that will have the ability to allow cars to park themselves inside. This should make a huge difference in what parking garages offer in the future, which may be a lot different from what we have today.
Today parking garages have to leave room for people to exit the vehicles and even head into elevators and into the businesses these parking structures are attached to. If Summon becomes a feature on every vehicle in the future, or at least something like this, the parking garage won’t have to support people walking around in them. The spaces can be narrower; the paths can be smaller and leave only room for the vehicles themselves and no exit areas will be needed when it comes to the business or residential area attached.
In all likelihood, these parking areas that are attached to residential spaces will be made to have an item that can be added to the vehicles for those residents of the area to ensure they can step out and let the vehicle park itself. Otherwise, building a structure that only supports vehicles capable of parking themselves isn’t going to be a good investment at all. The future is happening and the infrastructure must get on board in order to offer the right items and the features needed to make autonomous vehicles work and be able to be incorporated seamlessly, this is only one step in that process.
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