Germany has a pleasant surprise for its travelers this year, an innovative robotic valet system named “Ray” has been introduced to park and retrieve cars of passengers flying out from the Düsseldorf Airport. While the news of a robotic valet is quiet intriguing in it’s own aspect, what fascinates us more is the systematic process undertaken by Ray to ensure that these cars are parked in a secured manner. This robot uses sensors to photograph and measure the car that is left by the driver in the designated spot, and then proceeds to pick the car up and transport it to one of the 249 close-in parking spots.
Then, on a nearby touch screen, passengers confirm that no one is still in the car which is then followed by a confirmation from the passengers notifying Ray of the details of their return flight, it is then, up to the robotic system to monitor flight schedules in order to calculate when a car should be retrieved for its owner. It is a well known fact that Germany has been a proud breeding ground for world class automobiles such as Ford, BMW and The Mercedes Benz, which gives this country all the more reason to be innovative in the automobile sector. The machine is capable of carrying standard cars weighing up to 3.31 tons.
Software engineer for Serva Transport Systems, Thomas Nigel says, “Some people think it’s too space age, but we think busy business travelers, especially, are ready for Ray,” responsible for testing the system at Düsseldorf Airport with air transport IT company SITA, he further adds “German people are very proud of their cars, but there’s insurance in case something goes wrong, and we haven’t ruined a car yet.”
Watch this animated video that explains what it is exactly!
Image Credits: Duesseldorf