Ford has revealed technology developed to enable drivers to park at the touch of a button from inside or outside their car, as well as a prototype that combines automatic steering and braking to avoid collisions with vehicles or pedestrians.

Ford’s Research and Advanced Engineering division harnessed developments made with existing Ford technologies, Active Park Assist and Ford PowerShift transmission, to produce a Ford Focus equipped with the prototype Fully Assisted Parking Aid system.

The next-generation push-button parking technology – that can even be operated from outside the car by remote control – operates steering, gear selection and forward and reverse motion.

Ford also unveiled Obstacle Avoidance technology on the Focus, which issues warnings if it detects slow-moving objects, stationary obstacles or pedestrians in the lane ahead. If the driver fails to steer or brake following the warnings, the system automatically steers and brakes to avoid a collision.