St Stephen’s Basilica stands in the heart of Budapest, and facing the grand Szent István tér (St. Stephen Square). The square, over the years, had served as the parking lot for the Basilica, which became both an eyesore and a traffic hazard for the tourists visiting the famous church. The answer was to build a parking structure, but as central Budapest is already tight for space, the planners decided to get down and get funky.

The Multiparker 730 provides over 400 car slots and ten transfer stations, all automated and underground. The video from builder Wöhr Autopark Systeme demonstrates how it all works, and proves that even hot models can navigate the loading bays and work the parking vending machines.
[youtube width=”640″ height=”385″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf6z_Oae0u0&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
This is the latest in Wöhr’s planned conquest of Europe and the Middle East’s robot parking garages, and their earlier work includes facilities in Dublin, Tel Aviv, Madrid, Mumbai and Luxemburg, to name but a few. The cost for all the robotic sleds and ‘SICK’ laser measurement systems must be exorbitant, but considering that they are able to pack the cars in like sardines, not worrying about passenger egress space in the slots, makes for a more efficient use of space, and likely more favorable net cost per space.
There is something kind of hypnotic about watching the mechanisms move in their mechanical ballet, but I wonder how well the system works with a heavy volume of retrievals? Of course, with a system like this, you could easily call the facility from your cell phone before you get there so your car would be waiting for you at the gate. I can’t wait ’til our backwards country starts getting garages like this, although I would miss doing broadies on the ramps of the park-it-yourself structures.
Wöhr Autopark Systeme (How’s your German?)