Autoblog dug up this classic mechanical engineering project from 2006. A team of five University of Toledo students constructed a system to help parallel park a car. First, you drive nose first into the space. Hydraulic rams then lower the drive wheel out of the trunk, raising the rear of the car. The single wheel is also hydraulically driven and moves the car into the space. They have a blog documenting the six week build. Have a look at the demonstration video below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uir63vOhXeg]
So………..you know this has already been done by an auto company. Not putting anyone down, just saying its been done.
Or, as Red Green did it, he used some 12V drill motors to lift the entire car onto some wheels, then get out, push it over, and voila!
But _this_ is originally from late 2006, the downside on this however would be the much reduced trunk space. If you didn’t need the space in the fron for the engine, you could put one there too, and just drive next to the parking lot an slide in…
It doesn’t matter if this has been done before. It’s an awesome project and I’m sure they learned a zillion things doing it. The reason to do a project is not that no one else has never done it before, but because you simply want to try it yourself.
This was done by a company in the 1950’s. I have seen the video demonstration.
I’ve too have seen it done before but the neat thing was, back in the 50’s you had a full size spare that was used to accomplish this task so it wasn’t a complete waste it just added some weight for the lifter mechanics. cool stuff tho
41 seconds for the conventional parallel parking? Please. Someone who doesn’t suck at parallel parking would do it a lot faster.
that would be great for stealing parking spots in a very congested area
yeah so what a car company did this already. car companys have huge budgets! these guys obviously did it on a much tighter budget so it is impressive.
it’s only faster if you don’t suck at parallel parking like they do. on the other hand, it’s way cool, and it looks like they did a very good job. bravo!
neat, but concurring with the sucking at parking. 41 seconds, lol
I can parallel park with a trailer in 15 seconds.. including the time to drive up stop and reverse in.
Looks like fun. Done before? whatever.
Note that you can use this to put this ‘rolla in a spot that you cannot otherwise.
wow. Neat, but you could probably just learn to parallel park a normal car in the amount of time it would take to build one of these.
Love to see an old idea like this revived. I’ve seen the clip of the 50’s car with the drop down spare, which worked well.
I also recall one that had four hydraulicly lowered wheels that would allow for the vehicle to move sideways quite easily, as well as doubling as an easy jacking method for changing a tire.
WOW NICE
41 seconds? learn to drive.
Anyway, nice job!
not a fair trial a woman did the first test and a bloke the second one. obviosuly the woman is not capable of driving properly because of her gender disability
i call for a retest.
and lets face it my grandad can reverse park quicker than that
That could be something for me, i really suck at parallel parking XD
But in one of the episodes of Prototype This they had an way to do parallel parking and even on top of another car :P
unbelievable i was dreaming about something like this last night :| !!
Six weeks of efforts to save 21 seconds … ;-) Plus all the building costs and the reduced luggage space. Well, cool project anyway. ;-)
Based on the unassisted example given, I’d say that this was born of necessity.
dammit, winphreak beat me to it. When I saw this red green was the first person I thought of.
the easier way to have reduced the 41 second park time from the first take would be to replace the woman driver.
Not bad, but having that much free space between those cars would be a luxury in my city.
In the inner parts, you get about half of the slack space than on the video.
Heh, here in the UK you’ve got to know how to parallel park for your driving test, so most brits (at least those who passed their tests after it’s inclusion) don’t have much trouble with it.
I would love to see someone’s reaction to this on the streets.
It’s kinda useless …. and it takes up a lot of trunk space. What’s the cost for saving a “claimed” 20 seconds. What if I can parallel park quicker than 41?
People should learn to drive.
That device would be too expensive
looks like it was fun to build, cool to see in action, but this is absurdly impractical. plus, that was some of the slowest parallel parking i’ve ever seen. i’m going to verify this, but i see people routinely parallel park in 10 seconds or so in the city.
Neat, but mecanum wheels would be a lot cooler. You could just drive right into the spot.
nice indeed
but here it is something these guys can be working on
http://jalopnik.com/cars/concept-cars/toyotas-finex-concept-for-tokyo-130439.php
“How intilligent ” people need this simply can’t drive a car and should not have a drive licence.
” wow 21 sec ” If it’s so importent not to “waste 20 sec” take a taxi,bus or walk.
Many people there are bad drivers should simply not drive.
Yes it’s not new , for 30 years ago a company make a car there could turn all 4 wheel for easy parking.
This is to much. With all those bad drivers the roads is not safe but dangerous.
mvh. kenneth
http://www.myspace.com/astro3000
This may be a naive question since I’m a woman and all, but wouldn’t this device cause a lot of wear and tear on the front tires as they twist around?
i think this is really cool i want one on my car
LOL, i want some of these, maybe future project to working on it. The best way to expand this hack is by inserting another system in the front of the car, as you don’t have to do anything except check if your car have enought place to get in the parking hole
Jules
http://www.unblockprox.com
Handy of the driver behind you doesn’t stop giving you room to park the old fashioned way. Being able to parallel park fast doesn’t make one a safe all around driver no more than having difficulty parallel parking would make another an all around dangerous driver.
like the idea, would be better if you could have 1 at the front of the car, then you would just have to pull up next to the space, rather then goin nose in first
I think this just made me pass my drivers exam now…
Ahh… That’s not how you parallel park, far to slow
Should be more like this…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REpXf0cmJ64
i don’t know, learning to park properly seems like a better solution :)