The 2007 Lexus LS460 is getting a lot of hype about its ability to park itself, supposedly. Even a bunch of automotive journalists had a hard time figuring it out. With the use of cameras, sensors and some serious software, the LS460 can parallel and perpendicular park without the driver's input. By the way, how lazy have we gotten? If you can't parallel park, then you shouldn't be behind the wheel.
This isn't the first technology to try to make the task of parallel parking easier. A group of mechanical engineering students at the University of Toledo put together a system in an older Toyota that allows the back end of the car to swing into a parking space. Hydraulics push down a single wheel turned 90 degrees from either of the four normal wheels. An electric motor makes the wheel move when it's on the ground. While the UT students' design isn't fully automatic like the Lexus, it sure seems to do a better and certainly quicker job. The video of the Parallel Parking Device (PPD) in action is embedded below.
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