An AGV parking robot has parked a car onto an elevator at a robot company in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, July 15, 2016. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)
China's first parking lot to feature an automated guided vehicle (AVG) robot will open in east China's Nanjing by the end of October, said the robot maker on Sunday.
Shenzhen-based Yeefung Automation Technology Co. Ltd. said that the laser-guided AGV robot can transfer a car into a carport in about two minutes.
Drivers guide their cars on to the robot which is in shape of a movable platform, and it places the vehicle in an available port.
Wu Hao, Yeefung general manager, said the company developed the robot in response to limited parking in big cities across the world.
He said the robot will help new and experienced drives alike. AGV robots can maximize parking space in lots by around 20-40 percent.
Although adding such a robot would give an extra cost of 70,000 yuan (10,468 U.S. dollars) to each carport, it would help operators earn profits through improving efficiency, said said Wu.
China has about 172 million vehicles on its road. Based on an annual increase of 19 million units, there will be 250 million vehicles on China's road in 2020.
Pan Guofan, deputy director of the Guangzhou Parking Association, said smart parking technology will help improve efficiency rather than providing a solution to the lack of parking space in cities.
He said parking space should be a major consideration of urban planning, and local authorities should build more multi-story parking lots in urban areas.
