SOMETIME SOON, YOUR CAR WILL PARK ITSELF IN URBAN GARAGES

So after the coronavirus threat has passed, you head downtown for a baseball game.

You get to the parking garage and using an app on your phone, you link your SUV to the garage’s computers and sensors, and the SUV finds a spot on the fourth floor and parks itself while you catch batting practice.

This isn’t some far-off technology anymore. German auto parts maker Bosch is testing it with Mercedes in Stuttgart. And this week it announced a collaboration with Ford at a garage near downtown Detroit.

Although the backers won’t say when the technology could be in widespread use, they say it’s one benefit from autonomous-car research that is coming sooner rather than later.

“The goal is as soon as practically possible to deliver a safe experience,” says Kevin Bopp, vice president of parking and mobility for Bedrock, the real estate arm of Detroit-based mortgage giant Quicken Loans.