Smart parking is gaining popularity in cities across the globe. From what it looks now, the smart parking market is expected to see continued growth. This article explores some of the growth drivers and what trends to look out for.
Smart parking is gaining popularity in cities across the globe. From what it looks now, the smart parking market is expected to see continued growth. This article explores some of the growth drivers and what trends to look out for.
Smart parking is all about leveraging smart technologies to facilitate parking operators and drivers. Roadside signboards or navigation apps on smart devices enable drivers to spend less time looking for parking, thus easing congestion and carbon emissions. Once they locate an on-street parking space they can just get in; the roadside kiosk will record the entry and exit time of the vehicle and bill the driver accordingly.
This becomes especially important amid urbanization, where increased car ownership in cities and insufficient parking space have made it more difficult for find parking. This, then, has led to increased demand for smart parking solutions across the globe, including in Asia.
“A growing number of vehicles on the road combined with government initiatives such as smart cities are expected to develop better traffic and parking management solutions in Asia and Oceana in the future,” said Sanjay Kumar, Chairman of the Railway Recruitment Board of Indian Railways who is also a security and IoT industry observer. “Year after year, the Asia Pacific region sees growth in its market share. This expansion is mostly attributable to the expansion of the automobile industry in nations like China and India. The increasing desire for cutting-edge technology to lessen the impact on the environment in this region is another reason that is anticipated to increase the demand for smart parking systems.”
Moreover, COVID has something to do with smart parking’s growth potential as well, as more and more people opt for driving for themselves instead of taking public transportation. “Post COVID-19 pandemic, where social distancing was to be followed very particularly, people were expected to use their vehicles for solo travel and avoided shared mobility, including public transportation in order save themselves from the coronavirus. This kind of transport utility habits has further impacted traffic congestion in numerous cities across the world and picked up the demand for smart parking solutions,” Kumar said.
These factors combine to drive up the smart parking market’s future growth. According to Grand View Research, the global smart parking systems market size was valued at US$5.75 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 21.2 percent from 2022 to 2030.
Trends to look out for
Indeed, smart parking is becoming more common and widespread. But what makes smart parking smart? What technologies enable smart parking? Below we take a look at some of the smart parking trends to be on the lookout for, both now and future
Crowdsourcing
Parking availability is often provided by way of sensors that detect vehicles coming and leaving. Yet for on-street parking, a sensor is required for each space, which can be costly. An alternative is crowdsourcing, which allows users themselves to enter information into the given service in real time, and in return being able to make use of information others provide.
“Due to its rising popularity and use, the market for crowdsourced smart parking is gaining traction. The market has benefited from the increase in mobile smartphone usage since users can access real-time parking availability data on their devices,” Kumar said.
ALPR
From manual entry/exit management to tokens, the parking experience has become more automated. Now,
automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) is becoming more widely deployed to make car entry more frictionless.
“Every day, thousands of businesses spanning the private and public sectors are struggling to improve the quality and convenience of the car parks on their premises. Cutting edge hardware include ALPR camera technology, pay and walk machines, vehicle detection sensors and, where needed, mobile patrols. ALPR, also known as license plate recognition (LPR), is one of the most cost-effective and efficient ways to manage an off-street car park,” Kumar said.
More use cases of digital payment
Imagine entering the parking lot by way of ALPR, yet having to pay at the payment machine. What if this last step was also automated? This is made possible by digital payment, which is expected to see increased adoption as well.
“Cash as a payment mechanism has been on the brink for some time, and the COVID epidemic has expedited its downfall even further. Aside from that, cash payments take longer, resulting in employee time wasted,” Kumar said, adding that with digital payment, “payment is immediately charged to the customer’s credit card using the most recent technology. Furthermore, not only are all parking solutions cashless, but the majority of them also employ license plate recognition technology to compute the time of stay, providing entirely frictionless parking options.”
Increased reliance on IoT
Now imagine this scenario: You find a space at an off-street parking lot from your smart parking app and book it 15 minutes prior to arrival. Upon arrival you click on the app to open the gate and lower the barrier at the parking space. Once you’re done you leave, click on the app to lift the barrier and close the gate, and get billed accordingly. Indeed, this is enabled by the
Internet of Things (IoT) where everything is connected and which will play yet a bigger role in smart parking.
“The IoT-based smart parking system not only helps improve parking management but also shortens the amount of time drivers spend parked. For instance, prior to entering a parking garage, drivers are given a list at the door that specifies the number of open parking spaces in the garage. This is accomplished by getting continuous information updates from the sensors and supplying the driver with the information that has been gathered. It is anticipated that such advancements in the technology of the internet of things for smart parking solutions would considerably boost the smart parking industry.,” Kumar said.