Lexus Self Parking Car Video and Review

Lexus invited Gizmodo along for a ride in the new LS 460 L super rich guy sedan. The thing is packed to the gills with tech. In fact, I'd call it the most geeked-out car evar, next to the Tesla.

But even the Tesla car can't park itself. Explanation of how the Advanced Parking Guidance System works, information on how this thing rips CDs, and other e-goodies, after the jump.

UPDATE: The video had some hiccups. Fixed.

Here's how it works.

1. You drive past a parking spot at 12mph or less. The four rear and six front sonar sensors detect the cars, and the gap between them.

2. Putting the car into reverse activates the wide-angle backup camera. There's a little button on the bottom of the screen that looks like a car parking. Hit it. If the spot is more than 6.5 feet longer than the car itself, the car enters Advanced Parking Guidance System mode. This is where the magic happens.

3. Crawl backwards, keeping your foot on the brake. If you touch the gas, or the wheel, the mode shuts itself off. Make sure to stay under 2.5mph, or it'll shut off, too. The wheel, as you can see from the video above, spins itself like its being ghost-driven. The sonar system is constantly measuring distance, beeping with more urgency as you get closer to obstacles.

4. When you're in the spot, the computer will announce that parking is complete.


Pretty sweet. Dan Neil, automotive journalist for the LA Times, and one of my favorite writers evar, sat next to me when I got the demo. He said he thought it was a pretty neat system. And that he could use it, since his better half was also the better parallel parker.

That's the best part of this car, but it's not the only awesome thing about it.

The car has adaptive cruise control, which uses millimeter-wave radar to slow you if a car in front of you hits the brakes. If the system detects a collision, it'll add pressure to the brakes to help stop time, and electronically tighten seatbelts.

It has the world's first 8-speed transmission, which uses fewer moving parts than the old 6-speed, in about the same space. I thought a car with 8 gears would flip through them like playing cards, but they were geared fairly tall to take advantage of the grunty 4.6-liter, 380-horsepower V8 engine. By the way, the pair gets the car up to 60mph in 5.4 seconds.

Like the Prius and other late-model Lexus cars, its key uses radio frequency to enable the door lock and starter buttons from a few feet away. Seems like a hack waiting to happen. But there's another drawback: One journalist took the car back to SF from Marin county, and left the key at the restaurant. The car keeps going, until you shut it off. Then, get ready to call AAA for a tow.

The headlights were inspired by crystal wine glasses. When they modeled a plastic assembly after the glasses, it didn't shine the way they wanted it to. So they took the headlamp, made it out of crystal, and studied the way it refracted light to get a similar look. The taillights are made from LEDs.

The car is so quiet, they had to redesign motors in the windows and locks because they were intrusive at first.

The backseat is not a bad place to be. The seats are adjustable in position, and feature heating, as well individual climate controls. There's a refrigerator big enough to hold a four cans of...soda. There are individual vanity mirrors, and a 9-inch motorized fold-down screen for the DVD player. The screen also can view and control (not sure if that's by remote or touch) the navigation, in case the driver is too busy speeding. There are rear sun shades that go down when the car is in reverse, and back up automatically when the car goes over 9mph.

The tire pressure monitoring receiver sits on the roof, checking all 5 tires, yes, even the full-sized spare.

The nav system is the fifth generation of Toyota's system, centered around a 9-inch, 800x600 screen. The system uses XM to receive live traffic data, with icons for traffic jams, accidents, closed roads, construction, bad weather conditions, etc. But that data is only available in some areas. The system also has integrated Bluetooth for pairing with a cellphone, for speakerphone and addressbook access. The entire system can be controlled by voice commands.

The stereo's 7.1-channel surround, with some 19 speakers pushes 15 discreet channels. The total power? 450 watts. It sounded...okay. The optical drive in the dash plays back CDs, DVDs, and CDs burned with WMA and MP3s. What's cool is that the same HDD that the satellite nav system uses to store maps can also hold MP3s that the car rips from CDs. First car, to my knowledge, that can do this.

The Intuitive parking system is the more simple of the two parking aids. It uses the car's sonar to increase the tempo of beeps as you get closer to cars you're parking near.

How does it drive? It moves a bit like a hurricane-driven cloud, quickly running through its 8 gears to its electronically regulated 135MPH, or something close to that. The car moves, but without much confidence that the road won't fly out from under you in corners. – Brian Lam

Microsoft Zune or "Toshiba 1089" aka Zune

Well, here's a bit of a surprise: a wireless PMP just showed up on the FCC, featuring a 30GB HDD, FM tuner and a strangely familiar 3-inch screen. And it ain't being manufactured by Microsoft. Instead it looks like Microsoft got their good pal Toshiba to produce the Zune, which not only saves Microsoft the job of gearing up some production lines for the thing, but seems to keep them from stepping on at least one PlayForSure licensee's toes. Things get more interesting from there, since the documentation refers to those other heavily bandied code names: "Pyxis" and "Argo." From the looks of things, Pyxis seems to be the name for the network which Zune devices will use to share content, since in the "DJing Content" section it states that "Pyxis allows you to stream music to up to 4 other Pyxis devices." A bit more confusing, however, is that "You can invite other Argo members that you meet to be your friends wirelessly." Of course, it's always likely that they hadn't gotten all the codenames smoothed out by the time they wrote that up, but it's clear that the Zune player as we know it is only a small part of the overall "Zune" plan. It's also clear that Toshiba is part of the party, so we'll be keeping our eyes peeled for any other manufacturers who might be hanging on to Microsoft's coat tails here. Keep reading to see the Zune cracked open, tested, and completely dissected...

PS3 Pics!

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SwissMiniGun Not Intimidating, But Could Still Kill You

The SwissMiniGun is a 2.16-inch replica of a Colt Python, and it's a real gun that shoots tiny bullets that are just .35 inches long. This miniature Swiss-made revolver and its ammunition are painstakingly crafted using watchmaking technology.
Looks like the little shooter could do some damage, propelling that tiny slug at 426.5 f/sec. out of the muzzle. Wonder if it has a kick to it. No word on pricing.

Lucky Louie - My neck my back lick my.. WHAT???

Lucky Louie - Catch Me

Is ADD really that bad?

Sometimes when I’m on a really boring conference call, I play Bejeweled on my computer. Is this rude?

This isn’t an etiquette column, but I can’t resist channeling Emily Post. The question is, is there any harm done?

It’s possible that you’re one of those ADD-fueled multitasking freaks who can simultaneously pay close attention to a numbing debate over your firm’s paperclip budget and rack up a high Bejeweled score. (Bill Clinton, for instance, was famous for completing crossword puzzles while talking on the phone with advisers.) “People have been doodling and playing tic-tac-toe and re-creating the Mona Lisa on scratch pads in meetings for 100 years. How is this any worse?” asks Garth Chouteau, spokesperson for PopCap Games, maker of Bejeweled. Heck, maybe your employer should be glad you play – without the game you’d have died of ennui in your cubicle long ago.

Now, such notions do not wash with old-school management thinkers, who regard videogames with deep suspicion. Peter Handal, CEO of Dale Carnegie Training, had never heard of Bejeweled – and he flipped out when he saw the game. “There’s no way you could concentrate while doing this,” he gasped. “It’s nothing like doodling. It absolutely would be rude.” Or worse: In May, a security guard at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant became so absorbed in a videogame that he failed to notice an inspector sneaking right by him. D’oh!

Ultimately, you should split the difference. Play the game only if the meeting is really sucky, if you’re not expected to speak or take notes, and if your boss is Bejeweled-out enough to go easy on you when you get busted.

Then again, you should know that I composed this column while totally engrossed in a killer round of Minesweeper, so mayb I missed might have little bit your qusetion?