HL Mando to demonstrate autonomous parking robot at CES

A Parkie valet parking robot is displayed during the CES Unveiled press event at CES 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. January 7, 2024. [Photo by EPA]

A mechanical device in the shape of a plank crawls under a car. It identifies the vehicle’s center of gravity, extends its claws towards the four wheels, lifts the car, and then moves it to a designated parking spot. Thanks to this device, drivers do not need to search for a parking space or repeatedly drive forward and backward in tight spaces to park correctly.

This autonomous parking robot technology, once thought to be possible only in the distant future, is at the cusp of becoming a part of everyday life.

South Korea’s HL Group announced on Monday that HL Mando Corp. and HL Klemove Corp. will showcase automotive, robot, and software technologies under the theme of ‘autonomous driving in everyday life’ at Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2024, the world’s largest consumer electronics and information technology (IT) exhibition set to open on January 9 (local time), 2024, in Las Vegas, the United States.

HL Mando, HL Group’s electric vehicle and self-driving system developing unit, will demonstrate how its autonomous parking robot ‘Parkie’ moves and parks a vehicle at the event. Parkie is a valet parking robot that autonomously identifies obstacles, driving lanes, license plates, and tires, as well as the size and weight of vehicles. Developed by HL Mando’s robotics division, Parkie won the CES Best Innovation Award.

Parkie can rotate on the spot and move in all directions, requiring less space to maneuver a vehicle than a human driver. According to HL Mando, Parkie can reduce parking space by up to 30 percent compared to mechanical parking while accommodating the same number of vehicles.

HL Mando will also unveil its data-based automotive software ‘MiCOSA’ for the first time. MiCOSA is a technology that integrates the control systems of individual chassis components such as brakes, steering, and suspension, to maximize the vehicle’s dynamic performance and safety.

Using this technology, it is possible to control a vehicle’s lateral movement through the brake system in case of steering system failure. As the autonomous driving era approaches, it is increasingly important to have dual safety technologies to keep passengers safe, and MiCOSA is HL Mando’s response to this future demand.