Using technology developed by Ford and Bosch, your next rental car may very well be able to drive itself—only without you in the car. You’ll drive up, surrender the keys to an attendant and go on your way.
The attendant will check the car in, scan the exterior for damage, the interior for forgotten items, return the key fob to the car, and then dispatch it via a mobile app. This app orders the garage infrastructure to communicate with the car, start it, and drive it to the interior cleaning station. When finished, the cleaning crew will use its app to send the car to the exterior wash rack.
Here, the automation stands to improve quality, as most rental places utilize a rack design through which the car must slowly drive to get clean. An attendant in a rush can short-change this step. From there, the car is dispatched to a parking area to await its next rental.
Read the article MotorTrend.