Volkswagen Touareg gets remote control Park Assist

Now this will be very useful in tight situations, literally. The Volkswagen Touareg now drives into and out of parking spaces automatically and virtually by remote control. This means that you can exit the third-generation flagship SUV and guide it in the spot using your smartphone.

With the Park Assist with remote control assist system, the Touareg is the first VW capable of assisted manoeuvring without a driver on board. It’s a development of the familiar Park Assist, where the car will take over steering duties when parking, leaving the driver to apply gas and brake pedals. Park Assist with remote control is fully automatic, taking control of the engine and brakes as well.

The new system has two modes. In the first mode, the driver remains in the vehicle and operates the system there. In the second mode, the driver gets out of the Touareg and controls the parking moves via the VW Remote Park Assist Plus app on his/her smartphone. In both cases, the SUV drives into or out of the parking space in forward or reverse directions, and it does this for all types of parking spaces.

Here’s how the remote control parking works. First, the driver activates the search for a parking space by tapping on the infotainment screen. Select an offered parking space and the Park Assist with remote control option, then take the key and exit the car. One then needs to press the Drive button continuously on the app.

No need to squeeze into the car to drive the big VW out of a tight parking space either. Start the engine with the app and the available manoeuvres for driving out of the spot will be displayed on your phone screen. Choose options such as “Forward left” or “Forward right”, and press the Drive button continuously.

Park Assist with remote control assist uses 12 ultrasound sensors and the four cameras of the Area View 360-degree system. Volkswagen uses what is known as “sensor fusion” to ensure optimum object detection. It’s a neat trick and especially useful for large vehicles such as this and the BMW 7 Series.

Anyway, the handsome big car that houses this is the third-gen Touareg, which Malaysians aren’t familiar with. Unveiled in March 2018, VW’s flagship SUV shares the group’s MLB Evo platform with the Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne and Bentley Bentayga. It’s longer, wider and slightly lower than the previous version, while tipping the scales at over 100 kg less. Wolfsburg offers V6 and V8 engines, and there’s even a Touareg R plug-in hybrid with 462 PS/700 Nm.