Let the Nissan ProPILOT worry about your parking calculations

Okay, we'll put it in here just so we all can agree; if you're going to learn how to drive, you might as well learn how to park your car. Well, that was before. This day forward, brands are slowly letting artificial intelligence (AI) take over and perform the task we used to do – just like the Nissan ProPILOT.

With the ProPILOT technology, you don't have to stress about parking your car, be it in a narrow or a wide parking space. All you have to do is take your car in a position that this feature requires you, push a button, and watch as your car magically drive itself perfectly slotted in the parking space. Cool, right? After all, Nissan’s into the idea of self-parking stuff, including slippers.

Basically, ProPILOT's autonomous parking is all possible through the use of four high-resolution cameras and 12 active sonar sensors on the front and rear bumper. Flawless parking may be achieved in three easy steps that don't need memorization.

(1) First, drive towards the desired parking spot, then press the ProPILOT Park button once. Slowly approach the empty spot and stop the car perpendicular to it. Wait till the system detects the empty parking spot; the display screen will project a "P" icon once it does. (2) Upon seeing the P icon, simply hit the 'Start Park' button on the screen. (3) The last thing you need to do is to hold down the 'ProPILOT Park' button until the car is completely parked.

Voila! Your car is now parked soundly. You don't even need to worry about the brakes and shift stick as the system controls these things when it’s activated. Even the parking brakes engages automatically, as the ProPILOT will activate it once your car has completed parking itself. 

The ProPILOT technology is compatible for front, back-in, and parallel parking. Although it takes over the steering wheel, shift stick, and electronic parking brake, the sensors and controls have limitation. With this, the driver is advised to always monitor the process while the system is active. A disclaimer from Nissan, moreover, says that the system does not fully negate the chances of collision.

Meanwhile, in a larger spectrum, Nissan is not the lone brand that aims to develop the best active parking assist technology. In fact, Ford’s safety tech has the ability to unpark your car aside from safely parking it, while Audi seems to be a step farther with an AI remote parking feature that parks the car even when you’re not in it.

With AI technologies like this being developed left and right, we can’t help but think how relevant the word ‘driver’ would be in the near future of automotive.