The companies are installing the technology in 15 garages in Germany

Now that automated valet parking has been approved for commercial use in the P6 parking garage at Stuttgart airport, Bosch and APCOA are branching out and installing the technology in 15 further parking garages in Germany.
From Hamburg to Munich, work to expand the infrastructure-based, automated, and driverless SAE Level Four parking system is set to start in 2023.
As a first step, Bosch and APCOA are planning to make up to four parking spaces per parking garage ready for automated valet parking.
“We will expand the number of such parking spaces based on the expected ramp-up of vehicles featuring automated valet parking,” said Dr Markus Heyn, a Member of the Bosch Board of Management and Chairman of the Mobility Solutions Business Sector.
“Our experience with charge spots for electric vehicles shows us how important it is for infrastructure growth to keep pace with the technology.
“Together with our partner APCOA, we are now making sure that this will be the case for automated valet parking.”
In the years ahead, Bosch says its modular system will allow the number of parking spaces featuring the infrastructure technology to be quickly expanded to up to 200 parking bays at each of the 15 locations.
The master agreement now signed by Bosch and APCOA is the first step toward a worldwide market launch. The goal is to equip several hundred parking garages across the globe with automated valet parking in the years ahead.
“Germany is only the beginning – we’re expecting to soon be able to gradually roll out automated valet parking in other countries around the world as well, once the corresponding laws have been passed,” says Claudia Barthle, who heads up global software and service sales in the Cross-Domain Computing Solutions division at Bosch and is responsible for the partnership with APCOA.
Germany is one of the few countries to have already passed the Level Four legislation that creates a framework for systems such as automated valet parking. Other countries, such as France, are poised to follow.
“With the automated valet parking solution, we can offer our parking customers a whole new level of convenience,” said Frank van der Sant, a Member of the Board of Management and Chief Commercial Officer of APCOA Parking Group.
“This function is especially advantageous at locations where time is an issue, such as airports, concert halls, event locations, and trade fair locations. In other words, our location at Stuttgart airport is only the beginning.”

For more from Bosch, visit www.bosch.com