Toyota demonstrating wireless charging & self-parking system

EU models with Executive trim have it. I was eager to get my hands on mine, but after about half a year I seldom use it anymore. My thoughts about it:

1. When parking lot is marked with freshly painted white border, computer recognises it instantly. Parking assist works like a charm. I leave the computer park it and enjoy meanwhile.
2. If the marks are not clearly visible (warn-out paint, rain drops on backup camera, etc.), you need to designate the parking lot on display manually. It takes you about 10 seconds to do it properly. You're pretty much faster backing up manually.
3. Engaging parking assist while driving by potential parking lots requires you to drive VERY slowly. Actually, I never managed to master it (lack of patience).
4. Public charging stations here usually have a special logo painted in the middle of them and blue lines around. This interferes with parking assistant optical recognition.

The bottom line is:
I love to use parking assist when offered automatically.
Due to parking lot's imperfections that's possible only in about 1 of 10 times.
A driver with an average backing up skill, parks faster manually, than set-up the park assist.

 

That technology is very 1940s. Los Angeles used to have a lot of bus routes with the electric overhead (two wire) supply. Ironically, over time in the 1960's, they were all replaced with diesel stinkpots.

 

The automotive industry played a key role in killing off electric buses/trolleys. The ones in San Francisco are among the the very few survivors. It's amazing what a few well-placed "campaign contributions" to the appropriate city officials can accomplish.

 

Actually, there's a good Wikipedia article about the decline of the Red Cars.

But the most delicious irony is that the "new" light rail routes use Red Car and Yellow Car rights-of-way.