Looks like a good idea to me. It must save a lot of space.

Do you have to stay in the car and drive it off the lift when you get to your park? I don't like heights so I couldn't cope with that

I have to admit the picture looks great

I remember seeing this on an episode of thunderbirds.


I'll bet Gerry Anderson didn't get any royalties for the idea.

I couldn't help but notice that you didn't link the picture like you used to, but instead linked to the website in context...

Coward!

I've seen one of these in the US except it was a horizontal/vertical pick-and-place. Round would make better sense seeing as you only need one elevator and spin it.

The biggest pain is getting your car in a hurry. We were parking there when staying in a hotel and my parents used to call ahead so we werent hanging around for too long (when there is a queue of people, you have to wait).

LOL! Yeah, I am getting more cowardly about copyright issues. So if an image clearly has an owner (such as the Associated Press), and somewhere where it can be seen full-size on the web, I'll now try to avoid reproducing it on my site. This is especially true if the image isn't doctored. But if it is doctored, then I think it's fair game for sites such as mine to fully reproduce it for the purpose of analysis/commentary, etc.

OK here is my concern
I can see space for about 500 cars in this well (about 25x20).
How much time it takes to load and unload one car.
It isn't a toy you know. If loading time is on average one minute, It will take about TEN hours to load all these cars inside and same amount to unload them.
It has to be very long line to get inside.

Interesting point, Loxx. I'm not sure what the actual purpose of this car tower is. Is it a parking garage? Or is it where VW stores new cars until they're picked up by customers?

I was in Wolfsburg once and several friends went on a tour of the VW plant. As far as I know, the giant towers are only used for new-car storage, and not as a "parking garage".

Would be quite the ride, though.

Even in non-liability-bound countries, I don't think any company would let untrained people stay in a car being stored that way -- just open the door and stand on the lifting platform, lose your balance, and WHAM: a big lawsuit.

Here is the official Autostadt site. It seems there are TWO car towers! Really cool!

http://www.autostadt.de

Lexx, there can be clearly seen _two_ lifters, so it would take twise less time. And I think I've heard about 1/2 minute time for loading/unloading single car.

Love the pictures, but some jacka*# has made up a new -incorrect- caption for it.

German Parking Garage This is pretty amazing!
Can you imagine how all this operates?
How do they lock each car in its cubicle for safety.
Talk about German efficiency.
The two photos below were taken at a new parking garage in Munich.
The actual space that the facility occupies is approximately only 20%
of a comparable facility with the traditional design that is used primarily
in the US. Not only is the German structure less expensive to build, but vehicles
are also "retrieved" in less time and without the potential of being damaged by an attendant.

It implies that it is a public garage in Munich, whereas we all know it is a storage facility at Autostadt. BTW, Autostadt was built for Expo 2000 in Hannover. Expo 2000 was apparently a pretty big flop, attendance wise.

its real --- guinness world records 2006

hey guys, i know the building is used just to save the cars of recent production and the elevator functions when a client go to pik up his new car, i hear that get down a car takes aprox. 60 seconds, i think is a pretty functional building for this specific porpose.

The lift that they use to get the cars in and out looks dangerous. I wonder if anyone has had an accident? especially if your car is right at the top and you forgot to use the handbrake..

The CarTowers are used as a buffer storage for newly manufactured cars that will be picked up by the buyers in peron at the Autostadt. There are two towers with approx. 400 spaces each. Each tower has two elevators and one of those can retrieve or store a car in about 60 seconds and in much less for the lower decks. Thus the whole system can be evacuated in less than 3 hours.

The owner of this system is Volkswagen, but the parking robots and elevators in the towers are built by PALIS Parking Technologies, a high-tech automatic parking company from Bavaria, Germany.

BTW: they even added a cabin for persons to the system some time ago which is certified by the TÜV, a the official technical testing facility in germany, so i guess the system is very safe.
Of course, in a public parking garage there have to be additional safeguards against some users, but there are running systems of the same company in DenHague, Netherlands, Frankfurt, Germany, Beijing, China, ...

I guess the copyright of any pictures from the inside of this towers is owned by Volkswagen.

yes guinness world records 2006 its real