This idea has to do with a set of car jacks akin to the type found on many endurance racing cars that are permanently fixed to your car. They are a set of four hydraulic pistons set at the four corners of your car that are usually used to facilitate fast pit stops by lifting the car almost instantly. In this application however, they will have castors at the ends that are set at right angles to the direction a car moves in. Now, next time you come across a tight parking space in which it would usually take a seven point turn to wriggle your way in, you just align your car next to it, flip your switch that activates the jacks, and your car is lifted on wheels pointing right at the curb. Just open your door and give a shove with your foot. You glide into a perfect parking space without having to do calisthenics on your steering wheel gymset or risk nudjing someone's bumper. Just let down the jacks and you can be on your merry way.-- countzero, Dec 18 2003 AutoJack http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/AutoJackrelated bakery idea, see third annotation [krelnik, Oct 04 2004] Toyota introduces self-parking car http://news.bbc.co....hnology/3198619.stm [krelnik, Oct 04 2004] We have all been waiting for this.....-- normzone, Dec 19 2003 This would definately benifit Elderly drivers and (not to sound sexist) SOME women drivers as well :)-- v0rtexx, Dec 19 2003 and (not to sound sexist) SOME male drivers as well-- hazel, Dec 19 2003 My boss genuinley believed that "Women's parking spaces", i.e. those in carparks that are nearest the exit/entrance and reserved for women, were wider. He didn't notice that they were always in the same place. Needless to say, he is not the biggest exponent of sexual equality.-- squeak, Dec 19 2003 Excellent idea. Would the sideways pointing castors be sufficient to prevent the car rolling downhill if you were parking on a slope (I mean in the direction along the front-to-back axis of the car)?-- dobtabulous, Dec 19 2003 and to get out of that tight spot, just open your door, stick you foot out, and attempt to overcome the slight crown of the road by straning to pull (with your foot on the pavement) your car back into traffic... I think it would be easy enough to give these sideways wheels some powered assistance from the engine, so why not? Other than that I love the idea, so biscuit from me-- luecke, Dec 19 2003 Unless you have a right-hand drive Suzuki. Then you're sh*t outta luck. Very nice, [countzero]-- Letsbuildafort, Dec 19 2003 What lucked said.
I once saw a film (from the 1950s) of a car whose “spare tire” was really a wheel mounted sideways behind the back bumper, normally not in contact with the road. To parallel park, you drive forward into the space and place the front of the car where you want it with the back sticking out diagonally into the road. Then you push a button that causes the spare tire to descend and lift up the back wheels. The spare tire then rolls sideways and swings the back of the car into the space. It was very clever, but the hydraulics and electric motor necessary to make the thing work probably left no space in the trunk.-- AO, Dec 19 2003 Toyota or Honda already have a car that can park itself in such spaces.In use in Canada and the States.-- python, Dec 19 2003 It is Toyota, and I think it is only available in Japan right now. See link.-- krelnik, Dec 19 2003 The castors would trip over a pebble on the road and your car would flip over.-- mystic2311, Dec 19 2003 [Krelnik] It is not a skate board. The castors would be at about the same locations as the wheels and only lift the car enough for the wheels to clear so the force it would need to be flipped would be more than the enertia created at a slow roll.-- countzero, Dec 19 2003 random, halfbakery