Car-park technology out to improve mobility and security

(ANSA) - Traditionally resistant towards technology, the parking and garage sector is starting to open up to innovation and these developments can make a big contribution toward decreasing two of the main problems faced by big cities - urban mobility and security.
    In recent years the technology available for the optimization of the management of this type of business has development considerably, with number-plate readers, systems that stop windows being opened, automatic payment systems and applications to book parking spaces. "Until five to seven years ago, the biggest operators in this sector had been active for 30 years, but they have become more professional over the last decade," Fernando Braz, the editor of the Portal Parking magazine and specialist in parking issues, told ANSA. "Furthermore, some investment funds have acquired stakes in these companies and this has created new openings - the resistance is crumbling away". The magazine will organize the Parking Lab Expo, in Sao Paulo March 21-23 in collaboration with Cipa Fiera Milano. The latest developments for the garage and parking sector will be presented during the event running at the Sao Paulo Expo at the same time as the Exposec security fair. The Parking Lab Expo will also feature a congress at which issues regarding the sector's present and future will be discussed. One of the speakers will be Carolina Edelstein, the CEO of Coopark, who will give a presentation on "parking in the era of connectivity". Her platform, created in 2017, works on three fronts: advanced booking for parking spaces, the assignment of spaces for company employees and an application for automatic payments via a QR code. "The parking sector is very conservative, very old fashioned, but it is gradually opening up," explained Edelstein.
    "It's like what happened with Uber - car parks cannot stay as they are and, indeed, those who have realised that you can't stand still will have success". According to the entrepreneur, the fact that a person can book a parking space in advance can have a direct impact on improving traffic.
    "People don't realise but parking has a direct on our lives," she said.
    "On average 20% to 30% of traffic is made up of motorists looking for a parking space.
    "People go to the park, to a restaurant or to a meeting and they forget that you have to park to do so.
    "If a person knows where they are going to park, they don't have to drive around and traffic in the city diminishes". Braz also thinks that the current trend in this market regards connectivity.
    "Before you would go from one car park to another," he said.
    "Now there are dozens of applications that show where spaces are available and they make it possible to book one". Another development that helps urban mobility is the link up with companies that rent bicycles and kick scooters, according to Rodrigo Lucca, the executive director of Gruppo Verzani & Sandrini.
    "These are currently the best allies of the car parks in the quest to improve urban mobility," he said.
    His group, which will take part in the Parking Lab, owns VS Parking, a company that offers personalized solutions for the planning and management of car parks. "The technology has developed a lot in recent years," Lucca said. "The main solutions at the moment aim to reduce 'attrition' for the client so they have an agile experience, both on the way in and on the way out". THE FUTURE AND SECURITY Urban mobility is not the only area where technological developments can produce positive effects though: security, which is one of the main concerns in a country with a high crime level, can benefit from these processes too. One of the developments that can increase the user's sense of feeling protected is the automatic reading of car number plates, a system that is not yet very widespread in Brazil.
    "Today 95% of car parks use an automated system to issue tickets, but they do not link them to the registration plate," said Braz.
    "This can increase security a great deal for low cost in terms of the technology". In Sao Paulo, for example, there are projects in which car parks can get information about stolen cars and, if one of them takes up a space, keep it under control.
    Another factor that increases security is the reduced use of cash at the facilities. "Brazil has a high rate of thefts and robberies, but the figures in the parking sector are falling drastically and the main reason is the reduction in the use of cash, with payments migrating towards bank cars or direct transfers," Lucca said.
    "Intelligence monitoring systems connected to active centres also help avoid attempted felonies ar our outlets". Looking to the future, one of the things Braz is banking on is robotic car parks, which are common in other countries like China, but are in the infant stage in Brazil.
    In these car parks, the client leaves the car in a sort of lift, which guards and gives back the vehicle without any need for human intervention. According to the expert, there is still a degree of "fear" about these systems on the Brazilian market, but the prospective economic benefits will prevail. "There is still some fear, but sooner or later that will go away, because the cost of parking with this technology is plummeting and we'll get to the point where a robotic car park costs less than a conventional one," he explained.
    "In the end, the winning factor will be the price".
    All these solutions aim to reduce parking costs, with personnel that will become increasingly specialised.
    "Today there is a transition from manual controls, which require a greater human presence, towards technological solutions and, in turn, these workers are qualifying to work in operational and financial management, thus generating even better results," he said.