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Purging Parallel-Parking Panic
Nov 12 2007 by Emily Hansen
11/12/2007
Purging Parallel-Parking Panic
Living in suburbia, I get very few chances to parallel park my car, so when I drive in the city I feel a weird sense of adventure when I'm parking on the street. Call me crazy, but I look forward to the challenge. I recently went for a night out with a friend, however, who didn't have the same attitude. She broke out in a sweat when faced with the prospect of parallel parking her minivan with four of her girlfriends inside. She got the job done, but the situation made me think about how us moms could take advantage of new camera technology to overcome parallel parking panic.
When I first saw the Lexus TV commercials about the LS 460's self-parking system, I was intrigued by the gadgety-ness (it could be a word) of it, but when I tested it myself I was frustrated with its impracticality. Frankly, it took way too long to set up to be of use in a real-world (read: with kids-in-tow) situation. I was left thinking the technology would be cooler without the hands-off part; instead, a driver could use the system to "frame" a parking spot, then use that as a guide to parallel park the car.
Well, the engineers at Nissan have come up with their own way to eliminate parking dread. While I haven't tested it yet, I'm fascinated by the Around View Monitor that's an optional feature on the upcoming Infiniti EX35 small crossover. AVM uses four cameras, one on the front of the car, one on the back and one under each side mirror. Those cameras work together to provide a 360-degree view around the car, as software takes the view from each one and mashes it up (that's the technical term) into a full bird's-eye view of the car. The video screen shows a split view that allows the user some control over which of the various cameras and views they want to see.
My personal penchant for all things geeky aside, the practicality of this technology should appeal to everyone. It also has a lot of potential as a safety feature. A driver who has more visibility around the car — especially when backing up — is much less likely to have an accident. As we have already covered, those kinds of accidents can be devastating.
To get a preview of AVM and some of the other new technology on the 2008 Infiniti EX35, check out Kelsey May's video over on Cars.com's blog, KickingTires. When we test it here at Mother Proof, we'll give you a full update. Who knows? Maybe someday this technology will get us all permanently out of parking purgatory.
