China's 1st robot parking lot to be ready in Oct

China's first parking lot, that will use an automated guided vehicle (AVG) robot to park the cars in just two minutes, will open in east China's Nanjing in October, the robot maker said today.
Drivers guide their cars on to the laser-guided AGV robot which is in the shape of a movable platform, and it places the vehicle in an available port.
Shenzhen-based Yeefung Automation Technology Co. Ltd. said the robot can transfer a car into a carport in about two minutes.
Wu Hao, Yeefung general manager, said the company developed the robot in response to limited parking in big cities across the world.

He said the robot will help new and experienced drives alike.
AGV robots can maximise parking space in lots by around 20-40 per cent.

Although adding such a robot would give an extra cost of 70,000 yuan (USD 10,465) to each carport, it would help operators earn profits by improving efficiency, Wu was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.
China has about 172 million vehicles on its road.
Based on an annual increase of 19 million units, there will be 250 million vehicles on China's road in 2020.
Pan Guofan, deputy director of the Guangzhou Parking Association, said smart parking technology will help improve efficiency rather than providing a solution to the lack of parking space in cities.

He said parking space should be a major consideration of urban planning, and local authorities should build more multi-story parking lots in urban areas.