What’s the Difference Between Fully Automatic vs. Semi-Automatic Parking?
Looking to upgrade your building’s parking area? If so, an investment in automated parking could be highly beneficial. But what is automated parking? Such systems can allow you to store more vehicles in a smaller amount of land and can increase convenience for those who use them. In the broader category of automated parking that Harding Steel offers, though, there are two separate types of systems you can choose between: fully automatic and semi-automatic. We’ll compare fully automatic vs. semi-automatic parking systems so you can decide which one will be better for your building or project.
Fully Automatic Parking Systems
What is automated parking, and is there only one kind? To answer the second part of that question, no. Fully automated parking systems are the more complex of the two types. Automated parking solutions feature entirely enclosed parking spaces where cars sit in storage and regular people cannot enter. These parking systems may sit on top of the ground as visible multistory structures or under the ground. Inside, they often appear similar to giant shelves. To use a fully automatic parking system, a driver drops off their car at an entrance area that looks like a small garage. From there, a platform underneath the car mechanically moves it into the internal parking space and places it in an available spot. When the owner returns at a later time to reclaim their car, they make a request with a user interface near the entrance to have the system bring out their car again.
The ability to move cars by itself allows these systems to save space, whereas a regular parking area would need wide lanes and ramps for drivers to maneuver between levels. Automatic car parking systems stack cars closely in the horizontal and vertical planes. Because of the scale of work needed to build them, fully automatic systems are good when you want a major change to a parking area or are still in the planning stages for a construction project.
Semi-Automatic Parking Systems
While continuing to explore the question what is automated parking, consider semi-automatic parking. Semi-automatic parking systems are smaller than their fully automatic counterparts. They consist of structures that span several spaces across and two or more levels high. Each individual parking spot is a moveable platform the system can rearrange. To use them, drivers must park their cars in available spaces on the ground level. When the drivers get out of their cars and walk away, the system lowers gates that it has in front of the parking spaces to keep nearby people safe. It then proceeds to move its platforms, so the still-empty spaces are moved down to ground level for use while the occupied ones move up for storage.
They’re semi-automatic because the vehicle owners must park themselves, though the systems can then rearrange cars once the drivers exit. When the owners want to retrieve their cars, they can interact with a nearby user interface or a smartphone application to have the systems bring their cars back down to the ground level. At this point the drivers can get in their vehicles again and drive away.
Semi-automatic parking systems can help make use of vertical space in existing parking garages that normally goes to waste because drivers can’t reach it. You can base a parking area around them or adapt them to existing parking structures, which can make them more feasible for some when you compare fully automatic vs. semi-automatic parking systems.