Hey Mike,
These images were not in the original article, however, I guess there are more on the online story. The images of the red Hummer, my partner's car, as well as several more with the blue structural steel I-beams, and the front of the apartment building are all ours. The Porsche towers is a little different. It really isn't automated parking, it's an elevator for cars that takes the cars up to the tenant's floor, but then the tenant drives the car out of the elevator and into their garage. That is scary 30 floors up, and there is bound to be an accident at some point. Our system has no "human" involvement. After pulling into the loading bay (essentially a one car garage), the tenant leaves the car and goes to their apartment. Period! Everything else is done automatically. When the tenant leaves their apartment, next to the elevator on each floor is a scanner that "reads" the tenant's key fob, which then retrieves the tenant's car while they are riding the elevator down to the loading bay level. In most cases the car will be waiting for the tenant by the time they get to the loading bay (which by the way, will not allow them into the loading bay until the car is ready). The car is turned around facing out when it is first taken away so that the tenant can drive straight ahead with no backing out. Finally, the automation has a learning capability, so that if a tenant leaves to work at the same time every morning, their car will automatically be moved to a space closest to the lift so that retrieval time will be minimized.
All of this plus the advantage of using about 40% of the space required for conventional parking, no noxious fumes in the garage (cars are never running), absolute security, no door dings, and every single space meets American Disabilities Act requirements as the loading bay is handicap accessible which is where everyone interfaces with their vehicle.
Thanks for your interest.

 

I love the 'learning' capability...its a great feature that I can see becoming competitive with your neighbor who leaves at the same time as you...a wager placed on the elevator about whose car will be there first sounds like good, clean fun!

 

Well, it's been a couple of months since the Grand Opening of our first automated parking structure, it's been functioning very well, and our tenants seem to enjoy its security, its space age technology, and its convenience. We have signed our first contract to build a 205 stall subterranean structure at a shopping center/office complex in midtown Los Angeles, about a $4.5 million dollar project. We have received a request for a full proposal and presentation on a 5600 stall-$110 million dollar project for which we are working on design at full tilt. We have not allowed ourselves to even dream about what a project of this size would do to our initial investment, but with several other modest projects close to contract, we have begun to imagine what it would be like to not have to fund this venture for the first time in 4 years. Thank Goodness!

 

Ingenious...

(LIKE)

 

Great job! I truly wish you success in winning the BIG ONE!

 

Same here....

Keep us posted....

 

Good luck!

Let us know how it goes!

 

If I was living in an apartment building again, I would wish it to have one of your systems. I still hate driving in circles looking for a space.

Great job.

Steve

 

Thanks to all for the kind comments. Last night on the travel channel, they ran the first installment of a show they call, "Extreme Parking." They had filmed for about 8 hours a couple of months ago, and they ran about a 20 minute clip of the system in action, interviews with my partner, Christopher Alan, our president, as well as plenty of clips of my XKR, Pantera, and 280Z, sprinkled in and amongst the Audi R8, Hummer, and various other cars. Lots of good publicity and hopefully new projects. I'll update from time to time.

 

Too awesome... do you have a video clip you could share of it here?

 

Hey Chris,
All of the video clips I have are too large to upload on this site, but if you go to our website, Autoparkit.com, press the Media tab, and go to any of the features such as The Savannah's Grand Opening, you can see 2-3 minute clips of the system in action. We had the latest meeting, today, with a group that is anxious to put one of our systems in one of their hubs. They have asked us to go to the next step which is to prepare a full blown presentation and proposal to be presented at their national headquarters. They are looking for
5600 spaces. We could cut 75% of their land usage for parking and allow them to do other things. Our fingers are crossed so tightly that they're turning blue.

 

The Travel Channel has repeated the "Parking" Segment and the Parking System was very well presented. It showed a very well engineered system. Should do very well, IMHO.

 

The engineering required to move the cars around is not rocket science, but the automation is even more complicated than rocket science. Were it not for our strategic partnership with Omron Automation and their commitment to our prototype and ongoing projects, we could never have afforded to bring our efforts to fruition. It is an exciting time for us, right now, as we are on the verge of some significant projects. Thanks for all of the well wishing comments.