Robot valet to park travellers’ cars at German airport

Plane to catch and don't feel like hunting for parking?

Travellers at Duesseldorf airport in Germany can soon leave the job to a robot valet.

An airport spokesman says the robot, nicknamed Ray, starts work Tuesday and can be booked using a smartphone app.

Thomas Koetter says all travellers need to do is leave their car in a designated area and confirm it's empty and ready to go.

Then Ray or one of its cybernetic colleagues will take the car to one of 249 parking spaces reserved for robots.

Koetter says the forklift-like machine can carry any standard car weighing up to 3 metric tons (3.31 tons) and is fully insured.

He says the service costing 29 euros ($39.43) a day targets busy business travellers but is open to anyone.