Skip to main content

BMW to launch ParkNow mobile parking service in San Francisco

At a press conference yesterday with San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, BMW Group board member Dr Ian Robertson announced the upcoming launch of ParkNow, an innovative mobile parking solution that is a joint venture with Urban Mobility, and provided new details about DriveNow, a premium car-sharing service which features a fleet of BMW ActiveE all-electric vehicles. San Francisco serves as the initial US market for each service.
August 21, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
At a press conference yesterday with San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, 6419 BMW Group board member Dr Ian Robertson announced the upcoming launch of ParkNow, an innovative mobile parking solution that is a joint venture with Urban Mobility, and provided new details about DriveNow, a premium car-sharing service which features a fleet of BMW ActiveE all-electric vehicles. San Francisco serves as the initial US market for each service.

ParkNow, which will be available to drivers beginning in September, is an online mobile parking service that enables users to pay for parking in advance, with guaranteed access and clearly defined rates, based on their personal preferences. Customers can search for parking using ParkNow’s mobile app or website, reserve, pay and then be navigated directly to the parking facility, reducing time spent looking for parking, as well as emissions. There are currently 14 ParkNow locations in and around San Francisco piloting the system. Four ParkNow partner operators, ProPark America, Towne Park, ABM Parking and California Parking, will launch over 100 additional ParkNow locations in the coming weeks.

DriveNow which launched in June in San Francisco is a flexible, premium car-sharing programme offering the opportunity to drive BMW’s first all-electric vehicle, the BMW ActiveE with zero emission driving. The fleet of 70 ActiveE vehicles is located at eight DriveNow Stations around San Francisco, with two additional stations in Palo Alto and at the San Francisco International Airport coming soon. Through a partnership with California-based 4824 Coulomb Technologies’ ChargePoint network, drivers can easily locate a nearby charging station if they need to top-off during the course of their rental, which has no time limit. Parking and charging is free at DriveNow Stations.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Connected citizens boosts Boston’s traffic management
    March 30, 2017
    Data-derived traffic management is starting to show benefits as David Crawford discovers. The city of Boston has been facing growing congestion problems in its Seaport regeneration district, with the rate of commercial and residential growth threatening to overtake the capacity of the road network to respond.
  • Smart parking app revisited
    May 10, 2013
    The Streetline Parker 4.0 parking guidance app for the iPhone features one-click turn-by-turn voice navigation, updated design, and more than 23,000 parking garage locations. Developed by US-headquartered smart parking specialist Streetline Parker 4.0 features a clean, updated design; an easy-to-use side panel menu; and one-click turn-by-turn voice navigation, enhancing the hands-free capabilities of the app. Utilising data from Streetline's real-time sensor network in more than thirty-five locations global
  • Scoot expands fleet to include electric bikes in San Francisco
    January 3, 2018
    Provider of shared light electric vehicle (LEV) services Scoot Networks (Scoot) has added a full fleet of electric bicycles (e-bikes) to its service to meet the needs of residents in San Francisco who are seeking more affordable and valuable transit options. Users can access the bicycles via the same app used for Scoot’s shared electric scooters. The e-bikes come with an electric motor to make pedalling easier for terrains such as hills, but riders are required to pedal to reach the maximum speed of 20mph.
  • ITS World Congress premieres Kongressnavigator
    September 28, 2012
    Available for download from this week, the ITS World Congress ‘Kongressnavigator’is the first app to combine all the most important things at a congress. It helps visitors navigate through the city and the congress centre, and it integrates the conference programme, transportation schedules and tickets. All this comes together on the smartphone - now available for the iPhone, Android and as a mobile web application. Arrival at the airport followed by a quick stop at your hotel - there's not much time to spa