2011 Hyundai Elantra (Avante) Caught Parking Itself

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

Our Korea-based contributor Walter Foreman already suspected that the new Hyundai Avante might be one of the world’s first mass-market compact car with a self-parking feature (similar systems are offered on the Toyota Prius and Euro-market VW Golf), and this video proves that he was dead right. What’s still not clear is whether self-parking is standard on the new Avante (launching August 2 in Korea), or whether it will be offered when it comes stateside as either the 2011 or 2012 Elantra. This would be the ultimate challenge for such technology, as legal concerns allegedly kept Volkswagen’s pioneering system out of the US. Still, Hyundai had the cojones to equip its mass-market C-segment car with technology that just a few years ago was available only on the Lexus LS. That’s exactly the kind of decision that has Hyundai raising eyebrows across the industry.


Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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 11 comments
  • Superfluous Superfluous on Jul 28, 2010

    It doesn't seem to work as well as the Ford AutoPark feature.

  • Fusion Fusion on Jul 28, 2010

    Since it seems this wasn't read last time, I'll just copy. Its not the first. The feature for automatic parallel parking has been available on the european Touran since 2007, on the Golf since 2008 and on the Passat (don’t know since when). The function of parking in a space vertical to the street has been added with the upgraded Touran recently and will be available on the coming Sharan. Again, nothing new in mass-market cars. IIRC the VW System was heavily developed with (by?) Valeo, so it might actually be the same one as used by Hyundai. The way it supposedly works seems quite similar, as does the symbol on the button (thats a really bad indicator though)… ;) If thats cojones in 2010, then what was it in 2007? Though, introducing it to the US would prove quite Ballsy, iirc VW repeatedly said no, due to the US legal "system" ;)

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    • TomH TomH on Jul 28, 2010

      Correct. Both the VW and Ford park assist systems are based on Valeo's tech.

  • Crc Crc on Jul 28, 2010

    When will it stop. We keep moving farther and farther away from having the masses possess basic skills to drive a car.

    • See 2 previous
    • Don1967 Don1967 on Jul 29, 2010

      In a world where increasingly fragile vehicles compete for increasingly tight spaces, this sort of technology makes sense even for advanced drivers. It probably costs less than one good bumper ding in your curvaceous, 50 mile-per-gallon chariot. As for the argument that this technology will further suppress old fashioned driving skill, to the contrary it might actually show people how it's done. Most parallel-parking neophytes I know haven't got a clue because they avoid it so well. As for those purists who feel that all cars should have a manual transmission and wooden bench seats... there's always the donkey cart :)

  • Mcs Mcs on Jul 29, 2010

    Official confirmation. Here's the press release: The new Avante will delight and surprise with a raft of other advanced features not found on other compacts, including Smart Parking Assist System (SPAS) that assist the driver when parking between two cars parked in single file by automatically controlling only the steering wheel using ultrasonic sensors, HID (High Intensity Discharge) headlamps, LED combination lamps in the rear, heated rear seats, puddle lamps and a color TFT LCD information display nestled in the gauge cluster.

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