... but in fact Thunderbirds.

As I remember the episode, the car-parking robot goes crazy and drops a car from 200 feet, starting a fire that destroys the whole building.

A salient lesson for us all.

"Sky Parks Robotic Parking Systems" don't have a web site so far as I can google. Maybe this is a non-story.

Look again...

http://www.skyparks.com/whyskyparks.html

No, my recollection is:

A car driven by a really incompetent lady driver crashes inside a basement carpark, setting off explosions and a huge fire. A family is trapped between two automatic fire doors until International Rescue is called in.

Hurry.........air....running......out!

when Will Smith's character arrives at the building and his car is whisked away?

parks his futuristic Audi in one of these in I Robot - his car gets sucked into a opening in the wall and you see the whole carpark rotate until it finds a slot. just a thought tho - how many times have you got half way to the shops and thought "bugger - wallet still in car" or "damn - toddler still in back seat" .. and ... what if.... youre in a queue to get your car back ( theres always a queue for these things ) and the driver of the car returned has gone to the pay point... its all too much... oh the chaos. All the same it would be pretty impressive, mind you all new cars would need a big hook on top - kinda spoils the sleek future audi image. (and how did tho wheels work on Will's Audi)

"and how did tho wheels work on Will's Audi"

Magnets....its the wave of the future. Ever seen Minority Report? How about cars that drive on the sides of buildings and make crazy loops to exit off a freeway.

Japan has been using this technology for a looooooong time (reason - efficient use of vertical storage).

Why hasn't New York looked into this? They could still charge an arm and a leg for car parking but they could fit even more suckers' (i mean customers) cars into the same parking structure.