Parking Your Car Enters The Smartphone Age

I don’t know about you, but parking in the city (or any city for that matter) is akin to pulling out nostril hairs. Yes, it can be that painful. But a Spanish funded solution may have come up with the best way to fix these common parking congestion woes: by fitting each parking spot with an electronic sensor and alerting drivers to the precise spot.

The system, by Urbiotica is currently being pilot tested in a number of cities across Spain, including Barcelona. Popular Mechanics writes:

“Every parking space covered by Urbiotica’s system contains a 1-1/2-by-5-inch battery-powered sensor embedded in the asphalt. Each sensor has an optical detector, which notices when the space above the sensor suddenly darkens, and a magnetic field detector, which confirms that the shadow has been produced by a metal vehicle rather than a passing cloud or pausing pedestrian.”

Basically, the collected data is then sent to a central server, where users can access this data via parking ‘maps’ on their smartphones (or alternatively through digital billboard displays). This way, you don’t have to take five turns around the block to find a spot.

But parking convenience won’t come cheap. According to the article, each sensor will cost around $200 – $400 to install. But if you consider the hefty price of parking in Sydney for example, I’m sure most councils will have no problem paying for the technology, epsecially with a ‘live metre’ parking system that could effectively charge different rates that are based on hourly demand.

[Via Popular Mechanics]