'Hey, Ray, park my car!'

Passengers flying out of Germany’s Düsseldorf airport are being offered a new kind of service. A robot valet that will park your car.

A reservation is made via a smart phone App. Passengers then leave their car at a drop-off zone where it is ready for pick up.

The automated and intelligent parking system detects the size of the car and assigns it to its ideal location.

The station uses laser scanners to calculate the car’s dimensions.

‘Ray’, as the cybernetic helper is called, will than take the car to one of 249 parking spaces reserved for the robots.

Thomas Nagel, the Software Developer for Serva Transport Systems, explained the advantages: “Of course, the way we can park the cars saves space. You can park between 40 and 60 percent more cars using the same surface area , which is of course always a big thing, especially at the airport, in large cities, or wherever. So we came up with the idea, how to optimise the space. “

Ray and his valet mates are in fact automated machines that function like forklifts, lifting a vehicle and transporting it to a designated robot valet spot. The robots can lift up to 3.3 tonnes, and for peace of mind are fully insured.

Thomas Kötter speaks for Düsseldorf Airport on future projects: “This is for us kind of a pilot scheme with the 249 designated parking spaces, reserved for robots. And if it works well, as we expect, we will of course consider whether we will also introduce the system in other car parks.”

‘Robot Ray’ has already begun working with his services now available to passengers.

Once the traveller lands, the car is returned, it works kind of like the luggage deposit.

The cost – 29 euros per day, or four euros an hour – is aimed at business travelers, but anyone can use it.

Thanks Ray, have a nice day!