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Does parallel parking stress you out? It doesn’t have to. Technology is on its way to save you.

Ford Motor Company and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) conducted research that shows specific technological advancements make drivers less stressed.

“The study monitored drivers as they performed perceived ‘high-stress’ tasks such as parallel parking and backing out of parking spaces with restricted visibility,” writes Consumer Affairs. It adds, “The results showed a reduction in both self-reported stress levels and objective physiological measures used to monitor driver stress load.”

According to USA Today, “MIT monitored drivers of Ford Motor’s Lincoln MKS mid-size premium sedan while parallel parking and found that the heart rate averaged 12 beats per minute higher when parking unaided than when letting the Ford Motor ‘Active Park Assist’ system parallel park for them.”

Active Park Assist is a system that literally parks vehicles without the driver’s help. Ford is one of several manufacturers — Toyota and BMW also have self-parking systems — that offers technology like this.

Jeff Greenberg, a senior technical leader at Ford, says in a press release: “The point of technology in a vehicle is to help the driver, it’s to serve the driver and so if there is a particular task where it’s something the driver may not be familiar with a comfortable feeling all the time and we can help, by using technology, than that’s what we’re really going to do in our vehicles.”

If you’re shopping for a new car and live in a high-stress environment, according to this research you’ll be doing yourself a favor by shopping for cars with self-parking systems. You don’t want to curl up into a ball and burst into tears every time you come across a parking spot, do you? Make sure to check out the BMW 5-Series, Lincoln MKS and Toyota Prius, which all offer technology that will make your life less stressful.

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