Lexus Self-Park - Fails Hilariously

[BlueHUMMERH2]

http://blogs.automobilemag.com/10024...eo-/index.html

Originally Posted by Automobile Magazine

...I’m not being fair. Let me first start out by saying that this new technology is brilliant. And it does work. But like many new technologies, it works well only under a certain, limited set of conditions. The real world unfortunately does not exist only in those limited conditions. We finally got the system to parallel park after more than ten aborted, failed attempts. And we never were able to get the big Lexus to back into a perpendicular spot by itself.

We were, however, able to fool it into trying to parallel park into a three-foot-long opening between two other cars. As you may know, the LS460L is quite a bit longer than three feet. Also, it once tried to park itself on top of a Nissan Quest minivan. On many occasions, it refused to move at all. We never actually hit anything, but that's only because we were paying such close attention.

If you touch the accelerator pedal at all during its self-park progress, it aborts. This is particularly frustrating if you’re on any sort of minor grade – or if one of your wheels has rolled up against a pinecone. The LS won’t move. Guidance cancelled.

Likewise if you go too fast. It’s your job as the driver to modulate the speed of the car with the brake pedal. Fully off the pedal is too fast. If you don’t brake the car quickly enough back to an acceptable speed, it aborts, stops steering, and you’re on your own. Guidance cancelled.

The Lexus LS460 will park itself. But only if conditions are perfect. And even when it does work perfectly, it’s still far, far slower than even my octogenarian grandmother would park. Worst of all, the interface is difficult enough to use that I’m sure most people would have an easier time parking the Lexus themselves than just programming the function to do the job itself.

The video you’ll see below is meant to be amusing. We were being our silly selves. But what you see is what actually happened. We really were trying to get the Lexus to park itself. And it really didn't work.

I’m all for technology, but I don’t think this one is ripe for prime time yet. Kudos to Lexus for trying, but in the meantime, I’ll just park myself. It’s a lot faster.