In the future, hotel valets might go the way of the dinosaur. Cars might park themselves autonomously, after you get out. Stanford University's new Volkswagen Automotive Innovation Laboratory (VAIL) has designed an inbuilt robotic valet for a Passat called, inexplicably, ‘Junior'. It's able to locate the first available parking space and park without any human intervention, using laser, radar and lidar. (VAIL is also designing a robotic Audi TTS called ‘Shelley' that will be sent off to climb Pike's Peak on its own.) Slight problem: Junior can park only if provided with a map of the car park well beforehand, and has no capacity for obstacle avoidance. (Think: Mother-in-law.) Nor will it stop if it encounters one...