BMW Parking Assistant and Park Assistant Plus explained

Parking your car is hardly the most enjoyable part of driving, and it can be a tricky skill to master. But the latest tech – including BMW Parking Assistant and Assistant Plus – can make it a whole lot easier, especially given that cars today are bigger and bulkier than ever before.

Parking assistant systems aren’t anything new. Parking sensors and cameras have been around for over 20 years, giving drivers a better sense of the size of their car. The first self-parking system appeared in the 2003 Toyota Prius, but the tech has since evolved to be far more capable.

Today, most manufacturers offer some form of parking assistance tech, be it sensors, reversing cameras or comprehensive self-parking systems. BMW offers all three through its Parking Assistant and Assistant Plus packages, and you may be wondering whether they’re worth the money.

Read on to find out what they do, how they work and whether you should tick the option box when buying your BMW. We’ve also covered BMW iDrive and BMW xDrive, two other technologies you’ll find in a BMW brochure.

What is BMW Parking Assistant?

BMW Parking Assistant is the name given to its standard-fit suite of parking sensors and cameras. When you select reverse, the infotainment screen will display a live feed from the rear-view camera, with an overlay showing the footprint of your car. This can make it much easier to reverse into tight parking spaces or out of a driveway. The system also includes parking sensors which will trigger an audible warning when you get close to an obstacle.

However, the key feature of Parking Assistant is the automatic parking function, called Park Assist. This can scan parking spaces as you drive along and automatically manoeuvre your BMW into a suitable space, hands-free. It can perform front, reverse and parallel parking manoeuvres, 

Parking Assistant also includes BMW’s Reversing Assistant tech. This allows your BMW to essentially retrace its last steps, following the exact path you’ve just taken for up to 200 metres. This can be especially useful if you’ve navigated into a tight parking space but are unsure how to reverse out – simply activate the system and it will perform the reverse of the manoeuvre that got you into the space.

What about BMW Parking Assistant Plus?

Parking Assistant Plus simply adds some extra cameras to the outside of your BMW, mounted at the front and in the wing mirrors. This enables a 360-degree parking view, showing a top-down view of your BMW and its surroundings on the infotainment screen.

Depending on the specific BMW model, Parking Assistant Plus might also come with Trailer Assistant, BMW Drive Recorder and Remote Theft Recorder. These all make use of the extra cameras that come with the Parking Assistant Plus package.

What is BMW Parking Assistant Professional?

This is the third tier of BMW’s parking packages. It’s only available for a few high-end BMW models, but it includes all of the features of Parking Assistant and Parking Assistant Plus, and more.

The highlight of Parking Assistant Professional is Remote Control Parking. This allows you to park your BMW automatically from outside the car by using the BMW app on your phone. You’ll need to set up a digital key for your BMW first, but then you should be able to simply hop out of your car and activate the parking manoeuvre from the app.

Parking Assistant Professional also allows you to store up to 10 different parking manoeuvres in your car’s memory, which could be useful if you regularly park in several different places.

Do all BMWs have Parking Assistant?

Today, all new BMWs come fitted with the basic Parking Assistant package. That means every new BMW, from the 1 Series hatchback up to the 7 Series saloon, has parking sensors, a reversing camera, Reversing Assistant and the automatic parking function called Park Assist. Parking Assistant Plus and Professional are available as optional extras across the range.

How much do BMW Parking Assistant Plus and Professional cost?

BMW Parking Assistant Plus and Parking Assistant Professional are both available as optional extras, but they’re priced differently and not every BMW model can be optioned with both.

Parking Assistant Plus is usually only available as part of a more comprehensive Technology Pack or Technology Plus Pack. This ranges in price depending on the model – for the 1 Series, it’s a £2,750 extra, while it’s £2,100 for the 3 Series and £2,000 for the 5 Series. It comes as standard on high-end models like the 7 Series.

BMW Parking Assistant Professional is available in a couple of different ways. You can add it for a one-off fee of around £400 in the 7 Series, while it’s available as a subscription service in other models, costing £150 a year. 

How does BMW automatic parking work?

Once you’ve pressed the button to activate the system at speeds below 20mph, BMW Park Assist will automatically scan both sides of the road for suitably sized spaces. It measures gaps using ultrasonic sensors mounted in the wing mirrors, and when you’ve driven past a space that’s big enough for the car to fit in, an alert shows on the infotainment screen. 

You then need to stop the car, activate the indicator, and press and hold the Parking Assistant button. When you take your hands off the steering wheel and release the footbrake, your BMW will take over steering, gears, acceleration and braking in order to reverse you into the chosen space and straighten up the vehicle. It uses the front and rear parking sensors to place itself in the middle of the space. When the parking manoeuvre is complete, the system puts the car’s gearbox into ‘park’.

Taking your finger off the button at any point during the operation will cancel the manoeuvre and, although the BMW’s parking sensors should be alert to most dangers, it’s essential that the driver pays attention in the same way they would if they were parking the car without help.

When it comes to leaving your parking space, activating Park Assist will manoeuvre the car to the point where you can drive out of the space with no further steering input required. Crucially it won’t drive you out into the road by itself and, again, drivers must pay as close attention to the surroundings and traffic as they would at any other time.

Some BMW models have an optional Remote Parking Assistant feature, which allows you to get out of the car once a space has been identified and put your car into tight parking spaces using the smart key-fob.

Is BMW Parking Assistant worth it?

BMW’s Parking Assistant package is now fitted as standard to all of its new models, so this may be enough to sway you over a different model from a rival manufacturer. That said, most new premium cars today come fitted with parking sensors and a reversing camera, but they may miss out on BMW’s automatic parking tech.

Parking Assistant Plus can set you back several thousand pounds as part of a Technology Plus Pack on more expensive models, and the Remote Parking Assistance option is even steeper on compatible cars. If you’re not the most confident driver when it comes to parking, then it could save you the hassle and expense of parking dents and scrapes – and at the very least make life much more relaxing.

But as a general rule, we think most drivers will be more than happy with the basic Parking Assistant that comes as standard in new BMWs. It can park your car automatically after all, so the extra features of the more expensive packages won’t be that useful for many drivers.

As you're interested in BMW technology, why not take a look at  BMW iDrive explained: what is it and how does it work?