Giant Robot Imprisons Parked Cars

[smb]

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71554-0.html

The robot that parks cars at the Garden Street Garage in Hoboken, New Jersey, trapped hundreds of its wards last week for several days. But it wasn't the technology car owners had to curse, it was the terms of a software license.

The garage is owned by the city; the software, by Robotic Parking of Clearwater, Florida.

In the course of a contract dispute, the city of Hoboken had police escort the Robotic employees from the premises just a few days before the contract between both parties was set to expire. What the city didn't understand or perhaps concern itself with, is that they sent the company packing with its manuals and the intellectual property rights to the software that made the giant robotic parking structure work.

The Hoboken garage is one of a handful of fully automated parking structures that make more efficient use of space by eliminating ramps and driving lanes, lifting and sliding automobiles into slots and shuffling them as needed. If the robot shuts down, there is no practical way to manually remove parked vehicles.

In the days that followed, both sides dragged each other into court....

In the meantime, many of the garage's customers simply couldn't get their cars out....

[bkcc]

1. It sounds like a not-so-exciting sci-fi movie.

A sort of real-world SkyNet from the Terminator films.

[JPZenger]

2. Photo of the Garage

Here is an article with a photo of the inside of the garage:

http://www.djc.com/news/co/11149494.html