This German robot, known as Ray, makes the best use of parking spaces by lifting your car and putting it in a bay.
Meet Ray: Dusseldorf Airport’s answer to drivers who can’t park for toffee. Essentially a fancy automated forklift, Ray allows you to abandon your car at select locations before carrying it away and gently depositing it in a suitable parking space.
Ray may sound like the stuff of science fiction future, but it is already in use at Dusseldorf International Airport. Drivers use a touchscreen ticket machine to collect a ticket, before Ray scoots along, measures the vehicle in question and lifts it away.
The system can also tell you when Ray has returned your car so you’re not left hanging around.
Ray’s makers, Serva Transport Systems, claim it is the most efficient parking system available. Serva claim that Ray can park 60 per cent more cars into the same space than human drivers, due to its ability to revolve though 360 degrees and slide in multiple directions.
Like an extreme game of Tetris, Ray can also shuffle the vehicles around to make the most efficient use of parking spaces.
Dr Christian Jahncke, MD of SITA Airport IT, says “This technology is especially handy during peak times. Instead of spending millions of euros to extend our garages, we could simply make better use of the space we already have.”
We’re not sure how the liability works if Ray drops your prize Ferrari or becomes self aware and takes it for a joyride.
Would you trust your car to a robot? Let us know in the comments below.
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