3 October 2002: A new parking aid system which measures if a car will fit into a given parking slot will be introduced on two European cars in the next couple of years.

The system has been developed by Valeo, and uses its ultrasonic park-assist (UPA) technology to perform an accurate comparison with the length of the driver's car to indicate if the car will fit into the space.

The system is said to be particularly beneficial at night when the driver's spatial judgement may be impaired.

With the system switched on, the driver simply drives up to an empty parking space between two cars or clearly defined objects by the kerb.

As the driver passes the parking slot at a distance of less than 0.5 metres, the system measures the size of the space. If the car will fit into the space, the driver simply continues as in a normal parking manoeuvre employing the UPA system to judge the available parking distance in relation to a parked car or a static obstacle.

In the future, it is envisaged that information from Valeo's advanced steering angle sensor, which is in volume production with the major German and French automotive customers, can be combined with the parking slot and UPA system to instruct the driver of optimal steering torque and timing during parking. This is expected to improve parallel parking even further.

The new system uses the same electronic control unit (ECU) and ultrasonic sensors as UPA to interpret and communicate parking slot measurement information. Extensive testing was carried out in urban Paris.