Beiruting News

There's nothing worse than forgetting where you've parked your car in a multi-storey car park.

But soon you won't even need to climb the stairs to another floor, as BMW has announced a new feature that can park itself and return to you at the touch of a button.

When a voice command is spoken into a smartwatch, the car will leave its space and drive to the exit, calculating the time it will take so that it arrives just as you get there.

The new technology, known as the Remote Valet Parking Assistant, is being tested on Munich-based BMW's i3 vehicle.

Instead of GPS, the technology uses four laser scanners on the car, which create a virtual map of the building, to navigate.

According to its makers, it can even look for a parking spot and recognise which ones are empty. The company hasn't said what would happen if it doesn't manage to find one, though, such in a busy car park in London or New York.

The technology is being developed alongside other new features such as 360-degree collision avoidance.

BMW also says the use of lasers over GPS is better, as the latter is 'not at all precise' in multi-storey car parks.