Hyundai’s New Ioniq 5 has an automatic parking feature that allows it to slot itself into a space without the need of a driver behind the wheel, but as with all self-driving technology, it hasn’t been totally perfected yet.
Bridie Schmidt is an associate editor for The Driven, an Australia-based website that focuses mainly on electric vehicles. During a test of the Hyundai Ioniq 5, she attempted to try out the auto-park feature in an almost-empty parking lot, but things almost turned ugly when the car tried to park itself next to a vintage muscle car.
Trying out auto-park in the Ioniq 5. I would be scared of hitting the Monaro too 😅 pic.twitter.com/L1KTb5MnQz
— 🚗⚡Bridie Schmidt (@BridieEV) May 16, 2022
In order for the technology to work properly, it needs to “see” other vehicles using the sensors usually reserved for blind-spot monitoring and cross-traffic detection. In this case, the vehicle that is sensed is a vintage Holden Monaro muscle car, famed for winning the Bathurst 1000km race multiple times in the 1970s.
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The Hyundai starts off by turning its wheels to get into the proper position to reverse into the spot, but it’s clear that the attempt was already going to fail. As the EV reverses, it almost makes a beeling straight toward the Monaro, seemingly not even attempting to correct the steering angle. A brief pause signals that the system could be trying to assess the situation again, but nevertheless, it continues on its almost-destructive path.
Luckily, the Ioniq 5 stopped before coming into contact with the vintage muscle car, albeit coming within a couple of feet before deciding not to continue.
According to Bridie, the owner of the Monaro had just parked the car and went into a shop. Good thing they weren’t around then to see their car almost being hit by the self-parking Hyundai.
Bridie writes that she attempted a separate auto-parking job with a Toyota Camry, and it performed almost flawlessly. As a passerby noted of the event: “I think it is scared of hitting the Monaro. I would be too!”