Parking assistant and method for adaptive parking of a vehicle to optimize overall sensing coverage of a traffic environment

A parking assistant for adaptive parking of a vehicle, the parking assistant comprising:

• an environment sensor system configured to scan a traffic environment around the vehicle;
• a navigation system configured to determine a parking area around a programmed destination of the vehicle, the parking area having more than one available parking spot for the vehicle;
• a communication unit configured to acquire parking data of parked vehicles in the parking area via a wireless communication network, wherein the parking data for each parked vehicle comprises a parking position of the respective parked vehicle and an individual sensing coverage of an environment sensor system of the respective parked vehicle configured to scan the traffic environment within the parking area;
• a determination unit configured to calculate for each available parking spot in the parking area an overall sensing coverage for scanning the traffic environment within the parking area for the case of parking the vehicle in the respective available parking spot, based on an individual sensing coverage for scanning the traffic environment within the parking area from the respective parking spot with the environment sensor system of the vehicle and the individual sensing coverages of the parked vehicles, configured to rank the available parking spots based on a calculated overall sensing coverage, and configured to determine a recommended parking spot among the available parking spots based on overall sensing coverage of the traffic environment in the parking area;
• and
• an assisted/autonomous driving unit configured to steer the vehicle into the recommended parking spot.

A vehicle comprising:

• an environment sensor system configured to scan a traffic environment around the vehicle;
• a navigation system configured to determine a parking area around a programmed destination of the vehicle, the parking area having more than one available parking spots for the vehicle;
• a communication unit configured to acquire parking data of parked vehicles in the parking area via a wireless communication network, wherein the parking data for each parked vehicle comprises a parking position of the respective parked vehicle and an individual sensing coverage of an environment sensor system of the respective parked vehicle configured to scan the traffic environment within the parking area;
• and
• a determination unit configured to calculate for each available parking spot in the parking area an overall sensing coverage for scanning the traffic environment within the parking area for the case of parking the vehicle in the respective available parking spot, based on an individual sensing coverage for scanning the traffic environment within the parking area from the respective parking spot with the environment sensor system of the vehicle and the individual sensing coverages of the parked vehicles, configured to rank the available parking spots based on a calculated overall sensing coverage, and configured to determine a recommended parking spot among the available parking spots based on overall sensing coverage of the traffic environment in the parking area;
• and
• an assisted/autonomous driving unit configured to steer the vehicle into the recommended parking spot.