Stan is a robot that makes the process of parking your car a whole lot easier. Because it does it for you.
Built by French firm Stanley Robotics, the clever wheel-based contraption takes your vehicle from you at the parking lot entrance before transporting it to an available space.
You can hold on to your car keys, too, because electric-powered Stan carefully lifts your vehicle a short distance off the ground before tootling off to set it down again in the appropriate spot.
A smartphone app lets you book ahead and also notify Stan of when you’ll be coming to collect your car, so when you return you’ll be able to drive off straight from the entrance. To maximize efficiency and ensure no one is ever kept waiting, multiple Stans could operate at a single parking lot.
Stanley Robotics was founded in 2015 and recently received a multi-million-dollar cash injection to further refine its autonomous parking valet, though the system is already up and running at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.
Indeed, airport parking is a perfect fit for Stan, and can help to reduce stress for drivers not only when they’re rushing to catch a flight, but also when they return from their trip and want to get home as quickly as possible.
Apart from taking away the hassle of trying to find somewhere to park, another of the system’s notable advantages is that it can save huge amounts of space by double-parking vehicles because it knows exactly when the owner is going to return.
Check out the video above to see how Stan could utterly transform existing airport parking lots, using the available space much more efficiently while offering a quick and easy service for arriving and departing drivers. We just hope airports don’t use Stan as an excuse to start charging the same as they do for regular valet parking.
