Oh wow, also just came across this thread. Congratulations on your success thus far and best wishes for a successful grand opening fest today! The system looks and sounds very impressive, and intelligently designed too. Engineering ****, especially for car guys. Fun to see your XKR in the invite and photos.

Hope you get several contracts in Texas, Dallas specifically. I'd love to come see it in action and could bring my 3 cars for any Texas advertising. Our economy is generally doing fine, so push big out here. And really, the demand for machines to make luxuries like this possible is up most anywhere. Avoid union labor, market the hell out of this, and it has a great chance to succeed. Keep us updated and cheers!

 

I was at the launch of this system today. It is very impressive. There are so many innovations that Ted's system brings to the market that I feel it should have a very bright and profitable future.

Congratulations on your accomplishment, Ted. All the best!

 

Thanks to everyone for the best wishes. The Grand Opening went incredibly well. We probably had approximately 500 people walk through the system during the day, press coverage, politicians (all taking credit for helping us get to this point), the head of the Dept. of Building and Safety, friends, family, and potential clients and investors.

And to George,
Thanks for coming, I'm sorry I was running around so much, but you saw how much stuff was going on. I hope your wife is feeling better.

Now that the system is fully functional, the "real" work begins, we have to start selling these. Today, was a great start that will hopefully lead to that end. Yesterday, we made the CBS local news lead-in story, with about a 5 minute video and interview with my partner and president of the company. Tonight we hope to be on the ABC local news as they were filming for at least 3 hours. It's been 5 years since we started the adventure and all of the partners have invested more than we ever envisioned we would in order to bring the vision to life. It was nice to see the "wow" factor in most of the attendees' faces, it was very gratifying. Again, thanks to everyone, I'll keep you guys posted as to when we sign our first contract.

Ted

 

And Chris,
I know we've had a number of projects submitted to us from developers in Texas. Hopefully, soon someone will sign on the dotted line. I'll let you know when it happens.

And finally, we at AutoParkit have to extend some thanks to the Keyes Auto Group who on very short notice gladly agreed to our request to fill the garage for the opening with all brand new Audis including an R-8 V-10. We certainly appreciated their good will and were happy when the opening shot of the CBS video was the R-8 with its bright yellow Keyes temporary license plate staring at the camera. A Great Day!

 

Congrats. This is very exciting!

 

Outstanding! Truly! A fleet of new Audis certainly helps add a nice touch as well, especially that R8 V10 (disclosure- I'm a big Audi guy). If you ever end up needing a similar image in DFW, I can arrainge it with my local Audi club as well, among of whom have at least one R8 V10.
Soak it up! Get some contracts!

 

Hey Chris,
Although I don't have an Audi, I am a member of the So Cal Audi club and attend track weekends several times a year with them. My partner (and the President of Autoparkit) has an S5 6 spd. that we take turns driving on the track. I just love that car, its smoothness and refinement with incredible performance make it a hell of a potent package. Several months ago, when the S5 was in for service, Keyes Audi gave my partner a loaner car, a brand new R8 V10 convertible for a week. I got to drive it several times, and while I thought it was a lot of fun, I actually preferred the S5, not as twitchy, much smoother. The President of So Cal Audi club, John Deenihan, also works for AutoParkit, so we're big Audi fans as well. We have a track weekend coming up in April at Spring Mountain Raceway in Nevada, we'll be there.

 

Here is a link to one of the News stories and video taken at our parking structure.
Fully-Automated Parking Garage Makes LA Debut « CBS Los Angeles

 

And here's a link to a video of the parking structure featuring my XKR and my Pantera.
Automated Parking Structure Unveiled at New Apartment Complex on Burbank Blvd. - Sherman Oaks, CA Patch

 

Great stuff! I enjoyed watching it work.

 

They had one of these in Dallas in 1969. Maybe not as sophisticated but the principle was the same.

 

The New York Times called today and wants to film in our structure tomorrow morning at 11am. We have to fill the garage again, any local members want to have their Jags going in and out and up and down in the structure? Probably not more than an hour or so, and we'll get copies of the video and articles.

 

Very impressive project and venture. Are you designing and manufacturing the system at your company or are you contracting the manufacturing out. Only asking as I have dealt with a few companies in Asia who do something similar. Anyway if interested I can forward company details. Have the same 02 XKR And 20 years ago lived in LA..good luck as I think you are on to something.

 

The "Frosting on the Cake" is the 180 Degree rotation. Don't need to back up!!

 

The Hummer moving scared the bejesus out of me!

Very impressive stuff that you should be proud of.

 

Hi Stefoo,
We have put together some strategic partnerships with several key companies that are helping us put together the state of the art parking system. Moving cars is relatively easy, doing it all automatically with no human involvement is challenging. For that, we have enlisted Omron Automation, the world's largest automation company. They have been with us from the start, have invested high dollar amounts in our project and our development on the belief that we will emerge the leaders in this industry. While right now we are having the lifts manufactured for us in the midwest, the other amazing strategic partner is ConXtech, who has a patented bolt together moment frame system that is astonishing. On this first project they manufactured and installed the above grade parking "skeleton," a 3 story structure. It was pre-fabricated off-site, shipped to us and installed start to finish in ONE day. Who needs time lapse photography, it happened so fast that even watching it was a blur. The response since last Thursday's official opening has been overwhelming. Hopefully this will signal the viability of our product and lead to projects all over the world.

Thank you for your interest, and I plan on making sure that my posts document our progress.
Ted

 

Well, the momentum has continued since our Grand Opening as there was a feature article in the New York Times Sunday Business section about automated parking with a story about our system and accompanying photographs. I wasn't crazy about the article in that it seemed to focus on automated parking as a "toy" for the "rich and famous," for high end projects, etc. as opposed to its real purpose which is to provide a much more efficient use of land and provide relief for parking challenged projects. But, publicity is publicity.

 

Yeah, gotta push your own press releases/website when and where possible to manage the message. How did the NYT article turn out? Link available yet?

Maybe you need to have KIA supply the cars for the next presser. "With this technology, just look at how many of these damn things fit in this space!"

 

Well, the momentum continues as The Travel Channel filmed for 8 hours yesterday in the structure for an upcoming three part series called "Extreme Parking." It will air at the end of May, and they will send me a link prior to the airing where it can be watched or downloaded. There should be plenty of footage of both my XKR and my partner's S type as well as my Pantera, and a couple of Audi R-8s. I'll keep everyone posted.

 

Is this the article?
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/201...Parking.html#1

Impressive.