The key is the combination of Mercedes' self-driving tech with Bosch's smart car park grid. A slew of sensors in the multi-storey facility monitor the surroundings, telling the car where to go -- it's not just blindly making its way toward an assigned parking spot. A Bosch spokesperson couldn't go into detail regarding the tech, but did note that it should work with any car that meets certain conditions: it needs a parking control unit, an automatic transmission, an electronic stability program and keyless entry.

This ultimately amounts to a tech showcase for Daimler and Bosch, but it's notable that this is an honest-to-goodness commercial offering and not just a tech demo. Even if fully autonomous on-demand cars are still years away, you could see the rise of in-between offerings where the cars park themselves. That would still be a big improvement. You could spend less time marching through car parks and more time enjoying your trips.