The last few years have demonstrated that the automotive industry is constantly developing. The ideas which were in past seen as impossible to introduce are now becoming more and more popular all over the world. This includes self-driving cars, electric engines and some other functions such as build-in parking assistants and highly effective accident prevention systems. With such rapid development, the expectations of drivers are consistently increasing. Not only do they want to drive safely and comfortably, but also benefit from a trouble-free parking experience. Read our article to see what the future of smart parking would be.
Today’s parking lots
Although many state-of-the-art technologies that foster the organization of parking lots are already in use, many parking lot owners are still unaware of their existence or don’t see the point in introducing them in their facilities. However, these technologies can really increase the efficiency of parking lots, allow for better performance and reduce operational costs. With city centres becoming more and more congested and the ubiquitous lack of free parking spaces in the cities, we need to look for solutions that can increase the density of the existent parking lots such as plate recognition software or a parking booking system.
Smart parking in the future
We may expect new technologies to enter most big open-air and underground parking lots soon. Statistics show that the number of cars is on the constant rise, which does not translate into the growing number of parking spaces.
IoT technologies
Modern parking lots are packed with diverse IoT technologies that increase the comfort of drivers. The most popular examples of such technologies include high-resolution smart cameras that perform multiple functions. They can serve as a plate recognition system or track parking violations. The innovative camera systems not only record parking offenders but are also able to notify parking staff to take action if needed. Other smart technologies include lighting with car detectors or a pollution control system for indoor parking lots.
Mobile applications
The progress in the parking industry can be seen mostly in the increasing number of mobile apps which make parking easier and trouble-free. When it comes to paid parking lots, there are some applications that allow for quick payment and also show where free parking spaces can be found. There are also other useful types of apps, e.g. parking space booking apps that allow a specific parking space to be reserved. This is particularly useful in offices or university campuses.
Complete automation
Can you imagine fully automated parking spaces that are operated by robots and don’t allow drivers in? This has now become the present and in the future, the number of such smart parking lots will probably grow to eventually replace standard parking spaced with human staff. What are the benefits of automation? First and foremost, this significantly increases the density of parking lots and decreases the number of parking accidents.
Data collection
All the systems and applications that we have just mentioned are able to collect a wide amount of data and learn about car users’ behaviours. The systems based on AI are able to analyse all the gathered information to adjust parking lots to the users’ needs.
The possibilities of the innovative systems are limitless and smart parking lots may surprise us in the future on more than one occasion.
If you’d like to introduce Parkalot – our car park management app – in your company, please contact us at contact-us@parkalot.io or book an onboarding call.Start using Parkalot in an hour. Allow your colleagues to commute by car, and park on the parking spaces assigned to those who are working from home.