Are they kidding?!

http://www.lexus.com/models/LS/features ... ls_parking

???

How lazy have people gotten? I dont want to park my own dam car? I bet this devie along will cause over $1 million in damage because of idiots who dont read up on stuff, park your own car. Its like saying, I will buy a burger, and put it in my mouth, but I want someone else to chew it for me, that may be forced upon you on airplanes, but you should still chew it yourself, you have teeth.

If anyone actually buys this feature I will have less respect and hope for mankind.

it only works in big spaces

vw has it too

wow Dragon Fly, that's pretty dramatic considering the subject. I don't see why you're mad about something making parallel parking easier, it's already tricky enough as it is. and I know where you're coming from when you talk about our laziness, but this isn't one of those situations. things like light clappers and moving sidewalks are things that are obsurd and unnecessary, but this could actually help. and along the lines of it NOT working? I'm sure they've taken everything into that could go wrong consideration (seeing as how they're lexus and don't sell a cheap, poor-quality product). and who's to say you HAVE to use it every time?

[coolbeans326]

^ I love the moving sidewalk. If you walk while you're on it, you get to the otherside in half the time. Ingenious.[:)]

^and if you run, and then hit the Non-Moving part, you land flat on your face!!!

[jayman]

man.. i'mnot sure i've always though it was too much fun when i seen the sidewalk moving, of course it didn't seem like it was just going in one direction. but still.. i never landed on my face.

Well running on the moving sidewalk makes you run 2x faster than if you were on a non-moving sidewalk. So when you hit the non-moving part... your body is moving to fast for your legs to keep up. There for, face meets ground, ground meets face!

Yea that happened in RedEye...

This is obviously just another step in a long list of steps to get vehicles to run with less user input. Eventually this stuff will help in the safety aspect of driving.

Moving side-walks have a purpose at say, airports so people can move quickly without running to their flight.

Yea Pat, The Moving sidewalks along the side of this one like, halfmile hallway at Dulles were SO nice... At 4 in the morning....

This is stupid. I learned to parallel park in New York City (the Bronx) ... please stop with this "automatic thing" to park for you. It is a simple thing to do, and of course, after driving for more than 19 years it is second nature. This .... this is a joke. And no, parallel parking is NOT a tricky thing to do. Perhaps for a "newbie driver" maybe, but for those that can actually afford a car that has this feature, it should be as easy as making a right turn from the left lane without a blinker.

Developers of this? Morons.

[Oscar]

I think of it as a good marketing strategy for a feature that will be used rarely.

I have a few things to say:
1) Lexus is not my idea of a "dram car" it is more of the car you get when your rich, but not ub3r-rich
2)This is a very good marketing strategy, makes more rich people wanna buy it!
3)That's totally awesome if it works! soon they'll be having auto-pilot and even self-steering vehicles. The ultimate in laziness!
4)It probably won't work. Judging by the animated clip...it will only work in "preffered conditions" Come On, the parking spaces in the clip were HUGE! I've never seen parallel parking spaces that big, except for the limo parking near many stadiums and arenas (such as MSG, although the limo parking is not directly on the street there)
5)Just to answer your question: they are not kidding, it was a concept for other companies (VW, Audi, and Mercedes, Bently, Buggati had ideas for it but never came through) at the NYIAS...forget which year.
6)It's pretty dang cool
7)Toyota (which owns Lexus) has been pretty on top lately
8)The people who developed this are obviously not morons. They have to be very smart to develop these kinds of robotic (yes it is robotics) technology. The morons are the people who buy this feature, use it once, then never use it again. (the real morons are the people who drive a pickaxe into their hood multiple times to make "speed holes"[lol])
9)That last joke was funny only if you've seen that Simpsons episode.

I'm surprised with the discussion of the new Lexus that nobody has mentioned features that will be used more than once a year, such as its eight-speed automatic transmission. That's a pretty interesting concept, though I would never use such a thing, ever. But it's a good way for people who would like to have decent 0-60 times with decent fuel economy while continuing to be lazy... At this rate, it's going to get hard to find cars with manual transmission in the not too distant future. That's when I build my own vehicle.

And I sincerely doubt the developers of this feature were of the moronic variety. Seems to me that the people who thought of it and demanded it made probably were, but the engineers who implemented it were probably of at least average intelligence ;) . Remember, no system is without flaws in its first generation!

And the added fact that these very same sensors are part of a pre-collision system that braces the vehicle for impact adds some use to it.

Automation is the key to saftey by taking the human error element out of the equation.

I would oppose the 8speed auto if it werent for the fact that the thing shifts absolutely impeccably. As for the automatic parallel parking...it's an interesting concept, and while it may not be all that practical it is definitely a step in the right direction.

Originally posted by Kevin Brennan

At this rate, it's going to get hard to find cars with manual transmission in the not too distant future. That's when I build my own vehicle.

I doubt that'll happen. Maybe the clutch will disappear, but the concept of controlling your own gear shifts should stick around for awhile longer.