Mercedes-Benz & Bosch Autonomous Valet Parking System Approved for Commercial use

Mercedes-Benz and Bosch have received approval from Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) for their automated parking system at Stuttgart Airport in Germany. The highly automated and driverless parking system collects and returns the vehicle completely independently.

The approval makes it the world’s first highly automated driverless parking function (SAE Level 4) to be officially approved for commercial use.

The basis for the approval is a law that came into force in Germany in July 2021, which permits driverless driving in accordance with SAE Level 4 for motor vehicles.

The technology has been been developed and tested alongside APCOA PARKING Group.

The companies plan to gradually roll out the driverless parking service in the APCOA P6 parking garage at Stuttgart Airport.

From the day it is released for operation, the first customers with S-Class and EQS models built since July 2022 whose vehicle variants feature the INTELLIGENT PARK PILOT2 service as part of Mercedes me connect, and who have activated this service, will be able to use the function at the parking garage.

Once drivers have used the Mercedes me app to book a parking space in advance, they can leave their vehicle in a predetermined drop-off area. 

Markus Schäfer, Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Chief Technology Officer, responsible for Development and Procurement, says: “The world’s first approval for customer use of our highly automated and driverless parking function, developed together with our technology partner Bosch, shows that innovation leadership and ‘Made in Germany’ go hand in hand. Following the market launch of our DRIVE PILOT Level 3 system, we will soon be offering a Level 4 system for parking with our INTELLIGENT PARK PILOT – all of that this year. We really are showing our customers how technology can make life easier and give back precious time.”

Dr. Markus Heyn, member of the Bosch board of management and chairman of the Mobility Solutions business sector, adds: “Driverless parking is a key aspect of automated mobility. The highly automated parking system we developed together with our partner Mercedes-Benz shows just how far we’ve already progressed along this development path. It will be with driverless parking that everyday automated driving will start. From the outset, Bosch has taken the approach of making the infrastructure in parking garages intelligent. Accordingly, we have set standards in this area. In the future, our aim is to equip more and more parking garages with the necessary infrastructure technology – we plan to do several hundred of them worldwide in the next few years.”

“We are extremely pleased to have successfully developed a connected system for driverless and contactless parking together with our partners from Bosch, Mercedes-Benz, and Stuttgart Airport. Our digital platform, APCOA FLOW, can be used to book spaces, for contactless access to the parking garage, and for automatic invoicing of the stay in the garage,” comments Frank van der Sant, a member of the board of management and chief commercial officer of APCOA PARKING Group. “For our customers, this means a huge gain in convenience: planning certainty, hardly any wasted time, short distances to walk, and a contactless and cashless parking process.”

The INTELLIGENT PARK PILOT service from Mercedes me connect will initially be available in Germany for the Mercedes-Benz S-Class Saloon, Saloon Long and Mercedes EQS.