Remember that last event you went to downtown? The one you were almost late for because you had to circle the block eight times before you found a spot, then had to walk three blocks to get to the door only to four open spots you didn’t notice before? It’s frustrating and it’s a problem in a lot of major cities. Statistics show that over 30% of downtown traffic is just people driving around looking for a parking spot.
Denver is doing something about it. They are installing a new system called ParkiFi which combines some of the latest technology in way-finding, IoT and data to tell drivers which spots are open near them.
The first step is installing sensors in the parking spots that are monitored by ParkiFi. The city of Denver started this process and has been plugging sensors into the middle of parking spots. Those sensors then send information to an app you can download on your phone. The sensors can be used in private lots, too, making it easier to anyone to manage parking and make that last step in arriving somewhere more efficient.
The benefits for everyday drivers don’t stop with simplified low-hassle parking. ParkiFi collects data and can help cities or private owners make important decisions about access to their lots, pricing, hours and driver patterns. That can lead to better planning and more usable infrastructure projects in the future as well as optimized availability for parking at peak times.
While ParkiFi isn’t the only parking app on the market, it is disrupting. The company has been able to lower the costs of the sensors that are embedded into the parking spots to make the idea of using them more entertaining to municipalities and investors. They also are integrating cost-savings for people by offering options like payment integration (coming in 2017) – no more digging out quarters from your car or charging $1.50 to your debit card. You park and you go! And get ready for their 2017 updates which will include metered parking, dynamic spot re-routing and more.
It isn’t hard to see how this is going to benefit cities, patrons and self-driving cars are the future. Automation like this can be welcomed and set-up before we realize we were ever living without it. ParkiFi is using the convergence of tech, IoT and data to make a big difference. Do you see the possibilities? Talk to us at @StarterNoise and tell us what you see for the future.
