The Future Of Tech-Filled Parking Is Right On The Horizon

Parking is the worst part about owning a car if you’re a city dweller. Period. End of story.

Looking for a spot, fitting into a spot, paying an arm and a leg for a spot — the whole thing stinks. Which is why we recently told you about Stan the Robot, a new automated parking assisant in Paris that does the deed for you.

But Stan isn’t the only tech advancement ready to make parking your ride a little less of a hassle. Here are four more companies who want to make your adventures in urban car-owning less awful.

Bosch and Daimler’s Car Park
At the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, visitors can reserve a car through a smartphone app. The users will then walk to the car park and the car will drive itself to the pick-up area to meet you. When you’re finished, simply leave the ride at the drop-off area, pushed a button on the app and the Benz will find itself a parking space.

ParkPlus (5 images)

ParkPlus
In Boulder, Colorado, ParkPlus is also working towards creating a fully-automated parking garage. The system uses lasers to scan cars and a robot valet to park them. A mechanical dolly system transfers cars onto racks. The whole process takes about 3-5 minutes and saves space in a major way.

Audi’s Self-Parking Cars
In Somerville, Massachusetts, Audi has a small fleet of cars coming in 2018 that use piloted parking technology. Cars will self-park in nearby garages, meaning drivers can let their own car drop them off at their destination and then go find itself a space. The final product is expected to unveil itself in 2020, with the full rollout of the self-parking technology coming in 2030. All in all, the self-parking garages require less space in between cars, which could mean up to a 60% reduction for garages’ physical footprint.

Visa and Honda’s In-Vehicle Parking Payment
Combining digital tech and multinational motors, Honda and Visa have created an in-vehicle payment system for fueling and parking. New Honda models in 2018 will have an integrated program that allows the driver to connect the car to their Visa account. The drivers are then notified when they are able to pay by a smart parking meter or smart fuel pump. They’re currently working with IPS Group, the nation’s largest parking meter company, to roll out the project city by city. What’s more: you’ll be alerted when your meter is about to run out of time, and you can add more time digitally. So no more running out to the meter in the middle of a meeting. Game. Changer.