It seems that BMW will beat the likes of Tesla and Nissan in introducing self-parking technology in the U.S. The company has secured a federal government approval to implement the technology in its 2016 7 series models that will hit the American market this year, according to CNN.
The Department of Transportation approval was announced Thursday by department Secretary Anthony Foxx at the Detroit Auto Show. This means that the German automaker's self-parking technology has passed, or is compliant with, federal regulations.
BMW's self-parking technology is already live in several of its vehicles elsewhere in the world. The automaker has been hesitant about introducing the technology to American consumers for fear of federal regulations, according to The Verge. Now that this barrier has been addressed, BMW vowed to bring its self-parking cars to the U.S. as soon as possible. Watch a 2016 BMW 7 Series maneuver self-parking below.
Other automakers are currently developing their own self-parking models. Nissan, for instance, is known to be building a prototype self-parking technology for its LEAF electric car. Tesla is not far behind, as a patch to the Tesla Model S software could allow the car to park on its own, Fortune reported. It is also important to note that auto-parking would be an integral feature for future self-driving cars, such as the ones being developed by Google and Apple.
