[Image Source: The New York Times]

The paper that Prints all the news that's fit, has published a most interesting story highlighting a robotic parking garage located near Manhattan's Chinatown.

This upcoming Thursday, AutoMotion Parking Systems will unveil the Big Apple's first fully automated parking garage to the public. Fitted in the basement of a fresh condo high-rise, the facility has been successfully used already by the building's tenants.

While some might be wary of the redundancies of human labor that such new automated garages may present (if and when they become more widespread), the benefits are likely to be many.

One such perk: out-of-town shoppers can use their car as a kind of secure locker for all their newly bought goods thanks to the setup that permits returning to one's car as frequently as one chooses without putting valets through the hassle of shuffling ten others just to get to yours.

Oh, and no tipping necessary.

Read the Times' article in full to find out how it all works. Fascinating stuff.