Technology
Park Assist
If parallel parking doesn’t make you break out in a cold sweat, that’s great. What’s even better is if you don’t have to parallel park at all.
Volkswagen’s Park Assist is a Driver Assistance System that actively steers the vehicle for you when reversing into a parallel parking space. All that’s left for you to do is change gears and brake the vehicle.
Park Assist is a perfect example of how Volkswagen’s technological advances make driving easier and safer by taking over driving procedures partially or completely.
Watch Park Assist in action
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How Park Assist works
- When approaching a parking space that is parallel to the driving direction, activate Park Assist by touching a button in the centre console or on the dashboard.
- As you pass the parking (at a speed of up to 30km/h), Park Assist scans the opening to make sure that the space is large enough for the vehicle to park in. The space has to be the length of the car plus 1.4 metres.
- Stop the car after passing the parking space, put it into reverse and let go of the steering wheel.
- All you now have to do is to control the pedals in order to engage reverse gear – Park Assist will steer the car into the parking space.
- When the car approaches the back of the parking space simply brake, engage the clutch, change to first gear and drive forward, leaving the steering to Park Assist.
- Finally, when the vehicle is straight and in the centre of the parking, brake and switch off the car. It’s as simple as that!
- If you want to take over the steering at any stage, you can end the automatic Park Assist process by simply taking control of the steering wheel. This means that you are in command of the vehicle at all times.
Park Assist is currently available as standard on the Volkswagen CC and as an optional feature in the Tiguan, Touran and New Golf, World Car of the Year 2009.
