A Robot Valet May Eventually Park Your Car At The Airport For You

It’s not in the U.S. yet but robots like Stan have been in use in France and are now making their way to London. If you think about it, it makes more sense than just having autonomous cars because you don’t need to be with the vehicle, heck your keys don’t even need to be with the vehicle.

A French company called Stanley Robotics created Stan after it realized that it made more sense to move all of the complex AI and hardware from something that spends most of its time parked and immobile into something that only parks cars, and can do that all the time. The robots are designed to handle cars up to about 18 feet long, and weighing up to three tons.

Like we mentioned earlier, robots like this have been used before. In 2016, Stan robots parked cars at an indoor parking garage at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport. The next year, a new outdoor version of Stan was deployed to parking lots at the airport in Lyon, France. Next stop, London!

London’s Gatwick airport is up next to try them out for three months in a pilot program. All people have to do is drive their cars into a small staging garage, arrange payment and tag the car with their name and flight information, and then be on their way. No leaving your keys behind and no hunting down a parking space making you close on time for your flight.

The Stan robot will then lift the car by the wheels and park it in the parking lot. Another upside is that cars can be parked closer together because the robots need less room to maneuver and doors don’t have to open on the cars.

When you return home, Stan knows when your flight arrives, retrieves your car, and placed it into another staging garage for you to pick up. Then you’re on your way without having to wait in line to pay your ticket! Do you think it’ll take off?