Future Tech: Level 3 Park Assist

Unlike the first installment in this series, level 3 Park Assist is already for sale. But it’s only in the European Passat and Tiguan, so it’s future tech to American readers.

Right now, American VW owners only have level 2 Park Assist, which helps them back into spots or parallel park.

Level 3, though, enables cars to park nose first and can bail them out of a bad parking job.

Nose first works in much the same way as any other parking mode—you drive be the spot slowly with your indicator on and the car indicates to you, through a display in the dash, that it’s found a spot. The bail-you-out mode, though, is the really interesting mode.

Imagine, if you will, that you’ve found a parking spot that you’re interested in. You turn hard to try and pull in, but you realize, all too late, that you’re at too shallow an angle to get into the spot. Now you’re stuck at an awkward angle and you’re thinking of giving up on the spot.

No need. Just push the park assist button, give your car some time to figure out the spot, and let it steer itself in.

All you need to do is apply the brakes judiciously—if you don’t the car will stop itself, but it won’t be happy about it—and the car will get itself into the spot, perfectly centered.

And while you may consider yourself too expert a driver to find yourself in this predicament, I’m sure you all know or have seen someone who could use this feature.

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