Elevating Urban Living: How Digitised Automated Parking is Shaping Smart Cities

As the landscape of urban mobility continues to evolve, data-driven technologies are playing a key role in revolutionizing the way cities manage parking and transportation. Connected parking brings a number of benefits to cities, from fewer traffic jams and improved driving experiences to supporting more innovative and sustainable urban designs. Digitally-driven automation solutions have kickstarted the journey towards more connected and efficient urban environments, that aim to create a better, more liveable future for all citizens.

Can you envision a world where you don't have to waste time driving around in circles looking for parking spots? According to an IBM survey, the average Indian driver spends 20 minutes each day looking for a suitable parking space, causing a significant loss to the country's productivity. This is a worrying problem, particularly in big cities, and is likely to be exacerbated further with increased vehicle ownership.

Over 13,000 more new vehicles—64,876—were registered with the Mumbai Central RTO in 2022–2023 than in 2021–2022. The city's highways, according to a transport authority, are overcrowded with approximately 2,200 vehicles per km. In 2022–2023, the city RTOs registered an average of about 700 new vehicles each day across all vehicle categories, including an average of 177 vehicles with the Mumbai Central RTO alone.

In Mumbai Central's regional transport office, new car registrations averaged 141 per day in 2021–2022. Where are all these automobiles being parked if no additional space is being created? The already congested highways have emerged as a common parking location as the bulk of buildings in urban areas are old and lack parking infrastructure. An average of 40% of cars being parked on roads causes tremendous traffic congestion.

According to a 2018 BCG report, the four major metropolises alone are predicted to lose 1.47 lac crore rupees annually due to congestion. The anticipated loss due to traffic congestion would exceed India's total budget for healthcare and education if we double this amount to account for the rest of the nation and factor in fuel inflation. Another difficulty is the ongoing financial strain this places on our town planners to build flyovers, subways, etc. Parking needs will skyrocket as urbanization and motorization accelerate.

Addressing Parking and Urban Mobility Challenges Through Smart Systems

These factors set the stage for smart cities taking over as the norm for urban living in the not-too-distant-future. IoT, AI, Machine Learning, Big Data, and other breakthroughs will rule the roost as the technological revolution continues to alter the systems that govern daily life. Traditional parking methods, such as the manually operated basic space-renting model, were designed for an era where there were more people on the streets than automobile.

They were reliant on heavy land use and are no longer effective. Technological developments have already become visible in the space – for instance parking meters that partially automate charge collection. More extensive and innovative technological solutions to the parking needs of the future have also come into prominence.

Automated Multilevel Car Parking Systems (AMLCP) have been around in some form for over 50 years across the globe, and for the past 20 years in India. They aid in vertical car parking and are mechanically actuated. These systems provide unparalleled efficiency compared to traditional intensive parking systems, in a more sustainable manner and at a significantly lower cost.  

By parking close to 50-60 cars in the space typically required for 3, for instance, one can obtain economies of scale of between 2 to 20 times, vastly expanding the amount of available space. These advanced systems will not only enhance parking efficiency, but also assist in preventing traffic congestion and the adverse consequences that result from it -  including time wasted looking for and retrieving your car from the parking lot, environmental degradation, noise pollution, and more.

Automated parking systems, leveraging Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud technologies, aim to replace legacy platforms with more dependable, scalable, and cost-effective solutions. With these digitally-driven systems, users are empowered to autonomously traverse every step of the parking process, from knowing the state of the parking lot's occupancy through real-time updates, to receiving tickets, parking, and costs.

Multiple automated car parking systems built into smart cities will serve as an effective means to optimize the usage of limited urban space. Through a confluence of advanced data analytics, experience engineering and innovative business model, cities in India, and across the globe, are poised for a revolution in mobility and urban infrastructure.

This article is authored by Rajesh Kabra, Managing Director, RR Parkon. All views are personal.