If you are no good at parking your car, Toyota Motor Corp. has a solution.
Toyota said Wednesday it has developed a parking-assistance system for its Prius hybrid, featuring a display monitor that helps drivers reverse into parking spaces.
The automaker will equip the restyled Prius, set to be unveiled in September, with the button-based automatic backup system, dubbed the parking assist, as an optional feature.
Under the system, developed by Aisin Seiki Co. and other Toyota group firms, a driver examines the shape of a parking space behind his or her car via a monitor that projects video images.
After the driver uses a button to command the car to back into the parking space displayed on the monitor, the car starts automatically reversing itself into the space.
Toyota officials cautioned, however, drivers cannot depend entirely on the system.
It said motorists must pay attention to moving objects such as passersby who may suddenly move into the parking space into which the car is heading.
In this event, drivers must brake manually.
"This is not a complete automatic system, but a system to assist drivers," a Toyota official said.
According to Toyota, the new system will be installed in the hybrid car as it requires a motor when it automatically backs a vehicle into a parking space.
Hybrid cars run on a gasoline-powered engine and a motor that uses electricity.