Under the robotic system, cars will drive onto a computer-controlled platform. This platform will act as a lift, lowering and raising cars in and out of the car park.For a city struggling hard to fit in its cars in the available parking space, here ’s some good news. Mumbai will soon have the underground robotic car park system in two of its commercial buildings, both in Andheri.Under the robotic system, cars will drive onto a computer-controlled platform.

This platform will act as a lift, lowering and raising cars in and out of the car park.It can also move sideways in order to locate vehicles in free spaces. The robotic eyes or sensors detect the dimensions of the vehicle after you swipe for an e-ticket. What ’s better is that all this is done with minimal human interface.Ackruti City, a well-known developer, is coming up with two such fully automated underground multi-storied parking systems.

The first one, with the facility of 650 parking slots, is coming up at Solaris near the Andheri east-west flyover. The second one, Ackruti Star, in business district of Marol-MIDC, Andheri east, will have a parking facility for nearly 350 cars.According to Vimal Shah, managing director of Ackruti City, the multi-level underground robotic car park system covers an area of over 14,000 sq metres in both commercial buildings.“Parking or retrieval of the vehicle is quick and hassle-free with the robotic system and it takes less than a minute to do so. The time taken in regular car parkings is anywhere between three and five minutes, ’’ Shah said, adding car owners would have a security swipe card that ensures absolute security from car thefts.

The entire system is backed by two sub-stations to ensure 100% power backup.Incidentally, this is the third multi-level car park being constructed by Ackruti. In 2007, Ackruti City had inaugurated Ackruti Sky Park, a first-of-its-kind multi-storey robotic car park system, housed in a 20-storied structure at Breach Candy in South Mumbai, accommodating up to 240 cars. However, it operated overground.Urban planners are happy but voice a note of caution.

“While robotic car parking system ensures more parking space, the scheme will be successful only if the corporation restricts or stops street parking. It was a similar case when they set up the multi-storey car parking system at INOX in Nariman Point. No one wanted to park their cars in that building as street parking was less expensive, ’’ said VK Phatak, urban planner.

According to Phatak, it would be interesting to see what road management system the developers will put in place after the parking facility comes up. “How will they manage the car movement if there is a rush of cars entering and leaving the park during a certain period of the day The parking will make no sense if the roads outside are chocked with cars lined up, ’’ he added.