Parking can be quite an issue nowadays, especially if you live in big cities like Chicago, New York, Istanbul, and other large cities. In these types of cities, you may see millions of cars needing to park, which is even a bigger issue if you go to work.
While some people may have reserved parking spots, most people don’t have these options. What’s important to consider is that each driver has a parking space and doesn’t have to park illegally or take public transport if needed.
Well, let’s get straight to the point because, in this article, we will discuss the top parking innovations of 2022.
7 Parking innovations to look forward to in 2022
1. Grass parking
While technology has come up with many parking lot solutions, there are innovations that we may have never heard of. For instance, Who said grass parking isn’t a step forward in parking innovations? To create new parking spaces and expand the potential for parking our cars in new spaces, grass parking is one of the top solutions for 2022.
For instance, a company like TRUEGRID has created a ROOT system that turns unused space into grassland for parking. This system shows you everything you need to do to create grassland parking.
This new technology isn’t only for businesses but can also be used by individuals and can turn unused space into parking lots instead of allowing vehicles to park illegally. So instead of us having to park our cars on natural grass and eat up our green space, we can do so on artificial grass and simultaneously keep our environment safe.
2. Driverless parking
As the name shows, driverless parking technology allows vehicles to park on their own without the help of a human being. Instead, cars with driverless parking capabilities use cameras and sensors to detect what is around them and park correctly. It’s a huge time-saver and doesn’t let drivers worry about finding a free parking space or getting lost in a parking lot.
Driverless parking technology, or in other words, smart parking, is a technology that uses laser sensors to scan its surroundings and find free parking spaces. Moreover, some cameras allow the car to park for parking purposes. However, many vehicles still don’t have this type of technology, but it may be a future trend to look forward to in the future in most cars.
Nevertheless, driverless parking is the first step to driverless cars, so it paves the way for driverless vehicles that will be able to drop off people and park on their own. Even if someone is driving a car, the smart sensors will guide them to a free parking space. This is time-efficient, especially when you are in a rush and don’t have much time to waste!
Last but not least, driverless parking cars help reduce CO2 emissions since they can park much more efficiently than humans. You may be asking how is this possible? Well, smart sensors detect free parking spaces quickly, so you don’t have to drive around the parking lot. So not only are you saving time, but also not leaving your car on for as long.
As this technology becomes more widespread, it paves the way for smart garages to be standard in big cities. What better than to find a parking space before you see it?
3. Data utilization that helps you make strategic decisions
Smart parking systems operate based on the data they gather. Data utilization is excellent for helping you make better decisions. For instance, data utilization allows you to make better decisions based on real-time data.
Data utilization will help decision-making for you and other people such as city officials. For example, if a parking lot is in a poor area in a city, city officials can use the data they gather to make affordable prices and lead to higher compliance rates.
Gathered data on parking payments, compliance rates, occupancy, and more, can support decision-making on parking policies like the parking price and time limits.
4. Robots
Yes, you read it correctly, robots. The power of AI has gained control in the technology space, and it has now come to help you. For example, parking Robots are artificial devices programmed to allow us to park our cars. In other words, they are called robot valets. These devices will park your car in a crowded area such as a busy restaurant, airport, or anywhere else.
The robot will come to pick up the car and seek to park all vehicles as efficiently as possible. When you arrive at the parking lot and are ready to park, the valet robot will pick your vehicle up and park it in a free spot where you can retrieve it later. This is an efficient way of parking more cars in a given space and helps businesses lower the rate of parking accidents and increase the number of parking spaces!
5. Smart parking applications
Parking applications are another innovation made and are becoming quite popular. Maybe even someday, we might only be able to park through parking applications, meaning we will need to reserve a spot before parking. The advantage of parking applications is that they can work with other smart technologies and allow drivers to either secure a parking spot or find a free spot while in the parking lot.
These smart parking apps use sensor updates and meter data and are used through smart mobile applications to inform drivers of free parking spaces and even parking spaces that will be available quickly.
What is excellent about smart parking applications is how you can pay for the parking through your mobile phone. All you have to do is enter your license plate, payment info, or even pay by SIM card, and put in the time length you are going to park and the zone you are parking in (if there is any).
The zone and parking lot numbers allow drivers to find their cars in large parking lots, such as at a shopping mall, a restaurant, or elsewhere.
For example, let’s say you will park at a large mall; a parking application will show you the free spots you can park at. Some malls will even give you the alternative of reserving a parking spot. This helps reduce CO2 emissions and drive time. If you are going to work and live in a crowded city, this is excellent for you.
In fact, according to a study done by NASA, large cities such as New York, London, and Beijing, will expose you more to pollution, and one of the main factors behind this is the large number of cars being driven each day.
Nevertheless, who said that there is traffic only on roads? Smart parking apps reduce traffic jams in parking lots, a huge advantage for large parking lots struggling to get rid of parking traffic jams.
6. Improved safety features
Safety isn’t only important when driving on the road and parking your vehicle. Safety and security features can be achieved quite easily by smart parking technologies and predict available parking spots and demand much easier.
Safety features include gathering data and checking if any violations or suspicious activities occur within the parking lot. Unauthorized parking can be expected within parking lots, especially when there aren’t any people or security cameras to overlook the situation.
Moreover, fewer vehicles also mean the likelihood of an accident is less common. The advancement of parking technology has reduced traffic jams, increased safety features, and reduced the possibility of cars colliding in parking lots.
7. Reduction in costs
Technology has come a long way, and while many may think it’s damaging our reputation or reducing our job positions, it’s not necessarily true. Technology, especially in parking, has managed to reduce costs for us. In addition, it’s a cost-effective method compared to traditional manual monitoring.
Traditional methods require a higher need for human intervention and an increased workforce. At the same time, now, the demand is lower and doesn’t require any manual monitor; instead, everything is done through an application or suitable when entering the parking lot. Thus, this saves you from unnecessary costs and doesn’t require you to hire more people.
Wrapping it up
That’s all for this article. You can look forward to these seven commercial parking innovations in 2022. We are definitely shifting towards a technological age where human intervention won’t be a thing anymore. Nevertheless, the way we park our cars is becoming much easier and cost-efficient, reducing traffic jams and increasing available parking spaces.
The only thing we have to do now brings our car to the parking lot, and technology will take care of the rest!
