Smart City: IoT-Based Smart Parking Solution

Parking problems are becoming increasingly acute due to the proliferation of road vehicles and poor management of available parking spaces. Fortunately, smart parking systems provide reliable solutions.

Artificial intelligence (AI) plays an increasingly important role in our daily lives.

Through a wealth of apps on smartphones and other devices, AI shows us the fastest driving routes, helps maximize gas savings, and even points out sights we might like along the way. Data-powered fitness equipment provides us with important statistics on our activity levels, helping us adjust our daily routines for optimal health benefits.

With the rise of smart cities, artificial intelligence will become an important part of our lives, and it can even help solve a thorny dilemma that most driving citizens face every day: where to park.

Daily parking issues

• Not enough parking spaces in densely populated areas
• Parking space utilization is low
• Spending a lot of time and gas looking for an open parking spot
• Difficulty finding a vehicle in a large parking lot
• Inappropriate parking structures around traffic congestion centers
• Inconvenient parking space
• Poor parking price standard
• Properly manage spaces for people with disabilities
• Vacant private parking space
• The environmental impact of excessive fuel use when looking for a parking space
• Not sure about parking policy

What is smart parking?

Smart parking combines human innovation and advanced technology and is a strategy that smart cities can use to improve parking efficiency and solve numerous problems. Smart parking will reduce fuel use because drivers won’t be wandering the streets looking for a place to park, they will have a defined space. Drivers will also save money and time for easier parking.

Smart parking uses smartphones and other sensing devices to determine occupancy of a parking structure or floor. It is accomplished through the use of cameras, utilities at parking lot entrances or gates, sensors embedded in the sidewalks of individual parking spaces, and more.

As traffic congestion is a significant problem in many urban areas, smart parking offers a local solution. Much traffic is caused by people looking for parking spaces as a daily activity. The daily search for a parking space consumes 1 million barrels of the world's oil supply every day. If the search for a parking space is reduced or eliminated, traffic congestion will be alleviated.

As artificial intelligence continues to develop and improve, new solutions emerge that can be used to improve communities. Today, more and more cities, universities, and transportation industry leaders are paying close attention to parking analytics and smart parking. Smart parking is an important part of smart city development.

How can IoT-based parking provide a solution?

Thanks to the Internet of Things, new technologies based on wireless sensors are leading the development of efficient urban planning and smart cities. Innovations such as viewing parking data, dynamic messaging and parking sensors are being explored to aid urban design and town planning.

Using real-time parking data, people can find parking spaces quickly and easily, which will alleviate many problems. This technology can help guide visitors to available parking spaces.

1. Urban smart parking

The technology that will impact smart parking in cities is not so much parking itself, but the dissemination of information into planned cities and their services. While cameras, sensors, and wireless transmission of data are critical to building such a solution, it’s getting and delivering the data and how it’s used that makes the solution. It can send real-time information to commuters and drivers letting them know where to find parking spaces.

2. Airport Valet Parking System

Robotic valet parking is still in its infancy in the United States, but the system shows a lot of potential. It may not be easily adopted. With the help of these robots, the system relies on travelers arriving and exiting the car, something many may be reluctant to do in the first place.

These valet parking systems are truly autonomous towing vehicles that bring cars to available space at the airport, so there is no need for travelers to do so.

3. New parking concept

With assistant services such as Siri, Cortana and Alexa, it is not difficult to imagine such an assistant in the car computer to help with tasks such as locating parking spaces. Sensors that know how to park at the click of a button would be even better.

Another very convenient way is to handle payments, like correct change when parking in the car park, since sometimes we don't have cash. Having a contactless payment system will make parking quick and convenient.

4. Parking Apps

There are already many parking apps to help with daily parking, and more are being developed every day. These apps allow you to pay for parking in advance and can update you if your plans change or you need to stay longer. Other features include: telling you where to find roadside and off-street parking and directing you to these places.

Apps will play an important role in the development of smart parking and provide drivers with useful information when they need it most.

5. Enhanced multi-story parking spaces

In large urban areas, multi-story parking structures are often necessary. In the future, the development of autonomous parking systems may park the vehicle for the driver and pick up the vehicle on return. Utilizing lifts and pallets, the system stores vehicles in rows and columns.

Not only will the driver or commuter spend less time searching for a parking space and looking for a car, travelers who are willing to take risks will also be less at risk of damage to their vehicle.

epilogue

Smart parking solutions will only make city governments more efficient and greatly help the construction of smart cities. As urban areas continue to grow, smart parking will be an emerging industry, both now and in the future, which is crucial to the success of smart cities.

Smart parking will provide numerous solutions to help cities serve citizens in a way that saves time and money. The same solution will also help reduce traffic and help cities run more efficiently.

Original author: Irina Sidorenko, Yalantis

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