Parking & Access Control

Oxford City Council in the UK is trialling technology start-up Urban Electric Networks’ pop-up charge point in a £600,000 initiative to encourage UK residents to make the switch to electric vehicles (EVs). Urban Electric says its UEone is a charging solution for households who have to park cars on-street in residential parking zones. The project is co-funded by Innovate UK, following a successful £474,000 bid led by Urban Electric.

Drivers in the City of Orillia, Canada, can use Passport's parking app at 200 on-street spaces and nearly 500 off-street spaces in the downtown area. The City has made PassportParking available to residents and visitors to offer a more convenient payment method. Users can also extend their parking sessions remotely, keep track of parking history, receive notifications and get email receipts.

Wandsworth Council will continue rolling out cashless and contactless parking terminals in August to help provide residents and visitors with more convenient payment options. The initiative includes 591 new Flowbird StradaPAL cashless terminals and 199 StradaPAL coin and card terminals. Some older machines which are at the end of their working life will also be replaced. These solar-powered terminals will be installed in Wandsworth, Clapham, Putney, Tooting, and Battersea. The systems are linked to

Lödige Industries has acquired Dutch manufacturer 5BY2 to expand its portfolio of automated car parking solutions. Kamiel Koot, majority shareholder of 5BY2, says the partnership will address the growing demand for space saving car parking systems that are user friendly and efficient.

APT Skidata will implement a ticketless parking solution at CitiPark’s 140-capacity carpark adjacent to Rickmansworth railway station, in Hertfordshire. The barrier-less product is intended to provide commuters using the station with a more flexible payment option. Pete Brown, managing director at APT Skidata, says: “The ticketless system reduces both expenditure and maintenance requirements for operators, as well as helping to prevent fraud.” The system uses automatic number plate recognition techno

TomTom is integrating its maps with ParkWhiz’s database of parking facilities across the US and Canada to help drivers navigate more quickly to parking destinations. TomTom will allow drivers to view, reserve and pay for parking from their vehicles.

California-based Vigilant Solutions has launched a licence plate-enabled parking (LEP) enforcement solution that uses vehicle location data to assist parking agencies in enforcing policies and collecting outstanding fines. The platform is coupled with the company’s commercial data network to help parking enforcement work more efficiently with local police officers to address violations involving on-street and off-street lots. Vigiliant’s LEP device is said to offer access to open application programming

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland’s robot car Marilyn is parking autonomously - 100m away from its driver. The trial in Tampere uses the Internet of Things (IoT) and is expected to allow vehicles to park closer together without fear of collisions at airports and shopping centres. Johan Scholliers, project manager at VTT, says the technology will also help reduce congestion in parking areas.

North America-based Parkmobile has introduced a new app feature that shows on-street parking availability making it easier for ParkmobilePro members to find a parking spot in over 100 cities across the United States. The feature is intended to help drivers navigate to areas with more open parking and avoid areas where there is none. It also comes with real-time parking and reservation capabilities. In addition, members will receive discounted transaction fees, free roadside assistance as well as offers

Belgium company EIT Digital says its MyCarLot solution will help local governments plan parking policies and provide better services. The system is currently operating in Rennes, France, and uses real-time and forecasted parking data to address special needs like disabled parking or electric vehicles. MyCarLot is intended to help users find available parking lots in advance based on personal preferences and using predictive algorithms and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication. Maurizio Griva