Car and smartphone merge into one: Touareg now parks by remote control

The Touareg now drives into and out of parking spaces fully automatically, says Volkswagen. Virtually by remote control – from outside the vehicle using a smartphone with the new Park Assist with remote control assist system.

The company describes a typical situation: “A multi-storey car park at the airport, for example. Just before the flight is due to leave. Narrow parking spaces. And that means stopping the car in the driving lane, unloading the luggage from the luggage compartment, getting in again, manoeuvring the car into the tight space, and finally squeezing yourself out of the car. Stress.”

It says Park Assist with remote control now takes over this job in the Touareg. “With no stress at all.”

Already familiar: the basis of the new system is Park Assist, which Volkswagen still offers for the Touareg. Park Assist permits semi-automatic parking in parking spaces; the car also drives semiautomatically out of parallel parking spaces again. Here, the SUV takes over steering, while the driver presses the accelerator and brake pedals.

It says Volkswagen is now going a decisive step further, because the new Park Assist with remote control now works fully automatically for the first time – as it also controls the engine and the brake.

Volkswagen says the new system offers two operating modes: in the first mode, the driver remains sitting in the vehicle and operates the system from there; in the second mode, the driver gets out of the Touareg and controls the parking manoeuvre using their smartphone. In both cases, the

SUV independently drives into or out of the parking space in forward or reverse direction.

In the first mode – without activated remote control – the driver remains sitting in the Touareg as usual. When driving into a parking space for example: the driver activates the search for a parking space by tapping on the “P” field on the infotainment system screen. As soon as the Touareg detects one or more suitable parking spaces, it shows these on the screen. The driver now selects one of the offered parking spaces. The display “Depress the brake and press and hold the button or select Park Assist with remote control” is now shown in the digital instruments of the Touareg. The driver now chooses the first option and continuously presses the “Drive” button (P AUTO) under the gear knob on the centre console – parking then starts.

Volkswagen says the technology used by the Touareg for this comprises twelve ultrasound sensors and the four cameras of the Area View 360-degree system. The cameras are located in the windscreen, exterior mirrors and boot lid. Volkswagen uses what is known as “sensor fusion” to ensure optimum object detection.

The SUV can therefore even park automatically in garages. The Touareg stops instantaneously if the “Drive” button is released.

It says that in the second mode, the driver gets out of the vehicle before the actual parking manoeuvre. The driver then uses their smartphone and the VW Remote Park Assist Plus app as a remote control.

Here too, the driver activates the search for a parking space and again selects one of the offered parking spaces. When the display “Depress the brake and press and hold the button or select Park Assist with remote control” appears, they then choose the second option: Park Assist with remote control.

The driver taps on the option, takes the vehicle key, gets out of the vehicle and then activates the parking manoeuvre via the app. To do this, the driver presses the “Drive” button on the smartphone – this button is virtually transferred from the car to the app – and parking now starts. Here also, the “Drive” button must be pressed continuously for safety reasons. The SUV now carries out the process of driving into a parking space fully automatically.

If the driver would like to drive the parked Touareg out of a tight parking space, they no longer have to squeeze into the car to do this. To activate automatic driving out of the parking space, the driver simply starts the engine via the VW Remote Park Assist Plus app by pressing the START/ENGINE/STOP button on the smartphone.

When the engine is started, available manoeuvres for driving out of the parking space are displayed on the mobile phone, such as “Forward left” or “Forward right”. The driver now simply selects the direction and activates the manoeuvre for driving out of the parking space by pressing the “Drive” button icon. In this case also, the driver must continuously press the digital button for safety reasons. The manoeuvre for driving out of a parking space is visually displayed in parallel on the smartphone.

The company says the luxuryclass Touareg SUV is the first Volkswagen that is capable of assisted manoeuvring without a driver on board.