My wife and I have become fans of the “Father Brown” mystery series on Brit Box. A meddling Catholic priest in the mythical town of Kembleford in the Cotswold region of England is an amateur sleuth who always manages to upstage the local police in their investigations of murders in the otherwise tranquil British countryside.
One of the characters in the series is Lady Felicia, a woman of nobility who is shuttled around in her classic Rolls Royce by her chauffeur, Sid, who also occasionally assists Fr. Brown in his investigations.
And while Sid may have a guaranteed job during the time period of this series, a recent article I read showed more and more Rolls Royce drivers are choosing to drive their own luxury sedans rather than having a chauffeur at the wheel. That means that more and more Rolls Royce chauffeurs may be looking for new work these days.
I once read an excerpt from a Rolls Royce owners’ manual which had a separate section on driving tips for chauffeurs. One of those tips suggested that upon coming to a stop, the chauffer should slowly decrease pressure on the brake pedal so that the passengers do not experience a lurch forward at the final point of stopping. (I actually try to practice that myself, although I’m certain no one has noticed.)
And speaking of cars eliminating jobs, I spotted a related article in my last edition of the “Roundel,” the BMW owners group magazine.
In that article, it said the BMW is currently experimenting with a self driving feature that allows certain high-end Bimmers to valet park themselves. It apparently only works at locations that have the proper technology to guide the driverless car to an appropriate parking spot. Here’s what the article said:
“Cars that can park themselves once you have found a spot are becoming increasingly common, but BMW takes this to a whole new level with the Remote Valet Parking Assistant. The feature has been integrated in a research version of the electric BMW i3, and combines information from laser sensors with digital plans of multi-story car parks to navigate.
The driver can just get out and activate the parking assistant on a smartwatch, for example. The sensors let the car recognize the structural features of the car park and avoid any obstacles that appear unexpectedly, such as incorrectly parked vehicles. Once the car has arrived at the parking space, it locks itself.”
So if you’ve been nervous about tossing the keys of your $165,000 BMW M8 Competition convertible to an overly testosteroned 20-something valet parking attendant, fear no more — Remote Valet Assistant Parking will do the parking for you.
But if you pull up to that fancy restaurant in a ratted out 1996 Chevy Malibu, you’re on your own to park it. The valet parking attendendant has been replaced by BMW.
aero-cordero.com 