When considering mechanical car stacking and automated parking and the differences between them, it’s measured in complexity and available parking spaces. Automated mechanical parking involves many moving parts. Automated parking requires little to no action from the driver or valets or other personnel to park cars.

Perhaps the most significant benefit of using a puzzle parking systemis that it frees up so much space. These mechanisms allow cars to be stacked on top of one another, thus saving space in the lot.

The puzzle parking system is a combination of pallet and stack systems. To park a car, you can enter via various entry points as against to a nominated area. When you park your car on a specific platform and get out of it, it is automatically lifted up to the applicable level.

Overhead sensors scan the vicinity and identify the position of a parked car or an empty parking space while also measuring the length of an available parking space and registering whether vehicles have been in an illegal space (e.g. in front of a fire hydrant or other no-parking zone).

An automated parking system operates similarly to a robotic valet service. The driver drives the vehicle into an APS entry (transfer) area. All passengers exit the vehicle. The driver uses an automated terminal nearby to pay and receive a ticket.

Puzzle mechanical parking systems can shuffle around multiple platforms, thereby providing individual parking spots for vehicles.