With urban centers becoming increasingly crowded, cities need to implement new parking solutions for multitudes of drivers. The goal should be to make it easy for people to find available parking spots when they arrive at their workplaces or other areas, saving them time and preventing frustration. We cover how to integrate smart parking and automated technology in order to improve the driver experience.
Vehicle Occupancy Sensors
Smart parking is a potential application of the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT describes systems that connect physical devices through the internet to share useful information for users of those devices. Using IoT can give drivers real-time information on where they can find open parking spaces. It can accomplish this through vehicle occupancy sensors. These sensors may sit in the floor of each parking space in a parking garage or lot. When a vehicle drives over them and stops, the sensors will recognize that their space is occupied and send this data to a cloud service. Drivers who have a corresponding smartphone application can then find out whether that garage or parking lot has any spots that are empty. At present, IoT parking sensor applications are still conceptual, but in time, these smart parking solutions can definitely ease common parking issues.
Automated Parking Systems
So, how is it possible to integrate smart parking and automated technology? The IoT sensor systems are actually perfect for functioning with fully automated and semi-automated parking systems. Fully automated systems can include the sensors in each of their internal parking spaces. These systems already must keep track of their occupied and available spaces to automatically move cars themselves. Thus, giving drivers access to this data through an IoT smart parking system is highly possible. Similarly, semi-automated parking systems must also recognize which of their shuffling parking space platforms hold vehicles and which are empty. Again, smart parking sensors can relay this information to people with the necessary app long before those people actually enter the parking garage. With experts already studying possible ways to find solutions to parking problems, such integration may become a reality in the near future.
For now, though, you can obtain fully automated and semi-automated parking systems for your building to increase the number of spaces you have open to drivers. With these advanced systems, you can maximize space efficiency. As smart parking lot systems continue to develop, you may one day be able to use it with your automated system to make parking more convenient than ever before. Contact Harding Steel to learn about your options for automated parking systems today.