Robots to take charge in car parks

Plugging-in an electric car when you park may a thing of the past thanks to Volkswagen. The German firm has revealed prototypes of a mobile charging robot which could take the stress out of finding a charging point in a multi-storey car park.Although it may cause some people to moan that 'the robots are taking over', the charging droid works completely autonomously – the driver doesn't even have to park their car to get a top-up.

VW is taking a lead in robot tech

The robot 'communicates' with the car via a smartphone app or Car-to-X communication and steers it into a suitable car parking space. It then opens the charging flap, connects the plug and un-plugs it when the owner wants to drive away. Cleverly the robot can charge a number of parked cars without the owners needing to move them, meaning the race to the space with the car park's sole charging point may soon be over.The charging robot is just one of a range of charging solutions Volkswagen is working on, and will launch in early 2021.

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