What Is Parking Assist?

Parking assist is an automated aid that helps you park via a series of sensors and cameras that guide your vehicle into its parking spot. Automakers that offer parking assistance systems also offer varying levels of assistance — some help you into and out of parking spots entirely hands-free, while others steer for you while you handle the pedals and shifter. Regardless of how these systems may work, each offers peace of mind in the form of a singular fact: If your car can fit in a parking spot, you can park it there no matter your skill level.

How does parking assist work?

How the parking assist function works, what symbols are shown, and how it's activated will vary depending on the manufacturer. However, there are some constants. The driver manually activates the system, usually via a button somewhere on the steering wheel, console or infotainment screen. Once it's active, the car displays a park assist symbol, usually a large "P" and a traffic cone or parking line, before issuing instructions to the driver.

The driver then has to indicate which spot he or she has selected before the system will proceed. Most systems nowadays can help to park a car in parallel, perpendicular or diagonal spot. Once the spot has been picked, a series of cameras and sensors will help to ensure the vehicle doesn't collide with anything while parking. This is handled mainly by the very same sensors that prevent collisions while you're parking manually. Cameras may lend a hand by providing the driver with various angles of the car. In some cases, a parking assist system may work both ways — allowing the driver to get out of a chosen spot as well as into it. This is particularly helpful when a larger car has replaced the one next to yours.

Different types of parking assist

Parking assist can go by many names and come in many forms. For example, Ford calls its system Active Park Assist, BMW calls it BMW Parking Assistant, and Lexus uses Advanced Park. Each can offer some degree of assistance, and some have more in-depth automated functionality.

Steering-assisted parking

The most common variety of parking assistance is the one discussed above. After a spot has been selected, the car will guide itself into the spot while the driver operates the gas and brake pedals. In some cases, often depending on your starting point, the car may tell you to move the drive selector to reverse or drive so that it may properly maneuver. This level of parking assistance can sometimes come in two flavors: Some might only guide you into a spot, while others will also help you to leave a parking spot before handing over the controls.

Automated parking assistance

As the name suggests, these systems fully automate the parking process. Instead of actively participating in the process, the car does everything. Once the system has been activated, the car parks itself. Any steering, throttle or brake inputs are handled by the car and its computers, including shifting into and out of reverse and drive. This functionality is much more common in cars from luxury brands but may still be found in higher-tier trims from more affordable marques.

Within this subset of parking assistance, there are various features from a few automakers worth mentioning. Hyundai and Kia, for example, offer a feature called Remote Smart Parking Assist, more infamously known as "smaht pahk." Using the key fob, a driver can stand outside the car while it moves straight into a spot, with proximity sensors keeping it from hitting anything. The use case sounds limited, but especially tight spots become accessible once the need to open the doors and exit the car is removed. Hyundai's Genesis luxury arm takes things further, making Smart Park available for perpendicular and parallel spaces as well.

BMW also offers BMW Automatic Maneuvering Assistant. This feature allows users to "trace" a path to their parking spot, say in a garage. After saving the path to the car's computer, the driver will be prompted to activate it the next time the car is in the same spot. From there, Automatic Maneuvering Assistant is basically just parking assistance with more automation baked in, piloting the vehicle through a set path and into a parking spot without driver input. Using this feature, BMW says, drivers can save "up to 10 maneuvers with a combined distance of around 1,960 feet and a maximum of around 650 feet for a single recording."

Regardless of the level of functionality, parking assist offers benefits to even confident parking pros, allowing drivers to focus their attention and share the workload with their car.