There are a couple collision repair shops in the Seattle area that have had these installed for car storage for quite some time. Quite amazing to watch the thing shift cars around to give you the one you just got parts for.

I just wonder what happens if you're running late for work, and the damn thing breaks, holding 20 cars hostage...

wow. too bad they didn't think of something like that before building a 5 story hole in the ground under the new park block.

I'm glad the article mentions that there used to be a couple of automated lift public parking garages in Portland. I remember at least one of them operating in the 1970's.

petrichor -

I'm sure they did think about that... the mechanical lift systems reach a limit in practical terms after a certain number of cars and a certain volume per hour. For a large office building with a mix of public and private parking and large volumes of cars arriving and leaving in peak periods, an automated garage may not have been able to keep up with demand.

They will have the same problems with rush hours at a residential development. Imagine you are running late for work, and you go down to get your car and there are 5 people waiting in front of you. People aren't going to be very happy if they have to wait several minutes to get their car every morning.

So, where exactly at 20th and Hawthorne is this development occurring? Is the the lot the church sits on right now?

wow. too bad they didn't think of something like that before building a 5 story hole in the ground under the new park block.

This was part of the concept a few years ago when they were thinking about creating a five block string of "Midtown Park Blocks" .. a gigantic underground parking complex with automated storage and delivery of your cars, stretched out underneath five blocks of parks. It might have been pretty cool.

But it didn't happen. Instead, we're getting one new park block, and a 37 story tower from Tom Moyer.

In many high-density urban areas, parking garages should be preferred over surface parking. But, automated parking is probably overkill. In the future, parking garage stalls will have electric power outlets for recharging batteries and/or supplying power. Will an automated parking garage be able to automatically connect to these power outlets?

Oh, excuse me. HouseBOT 5000!
"ztZz yEs."
Bring toast and another cup of coffee.
"ztZz yEs, Marmelade?"
No, HouseBOT 5000, no marmalade.
"zZtz, vEry wELL, zZtz".......
I thought I told you no Marmalade!
"ztZzz.. hee hee."

Stacked parking is not a new concept. In the 60’s give or take a few years there was at least one stacked multi-story parking lot (if not more) in downtown Portland. The location was just South of Burnside between Broadway and 10th Avenue. It was kind of amazing to see it operate. A car was driven on to a platform that could be operated vertical or horizontally. After lining up in front of an empty stall, the car would be slid in from a device underneath. To retrieve a car, the operation was reversed. I believe the property on which this parking structure once stood has been redeveloped. I also seem to remember a news story on TV just before it was shut down.

The upside of this kind of parking structure is that it can be accommodated on a relatively small parcel of property. The downside and maybe what has contributed to the demise of such parking lots is the costs of maintaining the mechanical components, the amount and costs of energy used to operate the platform, the differences in the sizes and mix of vehicles as compared to what the structure was designed for, and a possible liability if cars are damaged in the operation.

Wells, how do you know what we will need in the future? There are many ways, many of which neither of us can imagine, to propel our cars. For example, supper effective solar cells in the desert could generate power for hydrogen fuel cell cars. Or:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Rb_rDkwGnU

Maybe we'll need hose bibs at our parking places.

It's not too hard to predict that if we continue to drive as much as we do, traffic will overrun new highways and old boulevards, same as has always occurred throughout the 20th Century 'Old School' plans.

I've seen this 'water' fuel video before, and am skeptical. It's probably hydrogen generated via electrolysis which requires electricity. The inventor uses hydrogen as a combustable fuel, and even then adds hydrogen to the gasoline/fuel mix of the experimental car.

The most current Toyota fuel cell Highlander stores hydrogen in onboard tanks at 10,000 psi. Wow. This is to increase its driving range, which is the result of predictions for more traffic and a sure guarantee thereof.

I predict PHEVs with a larger battery pack as the most advanced vehicle technology because it 'meshes' well with other electricity system advancements - V2G, rooftop photovoltiac solar panels, household backup power supply, etc.

PHEVs may still utilize hydrogen as a combustable fuel, but I predict fuel cell technology as inefficient, impractical and inapplicable to most vehicular purposes.