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Driving is swiftly changing in ways we’ve never dreamed of. One of its major aspects is parking. Parking, a $100+ billion industry, is an everyday task for millions of people. A short time ago, learning to ‘parallel park’ was an enormous transition and now, many of us do it rather comfortably. Parking, both as a function and an industry will evolve significantly and the changes will come simultaneously. The future of parking would fairly look like:

Parking getting smarter

Technology is already evolving parking, from online booking apps to advanced hardware like scanners and license plate recognition systems.

In recent times, the parking marketplace has evolved a great deal. For drivers, it’s become digitized and e-commerce-capable, making it more transparent and having control over the experience of getting around. Improving the consumer experience is highly critical for the parking industry.

New age tech-savvy customers expect smarter and more efficient ways of the things they have always been doing. And to make this possible, many creative and able minds are solving the parking experience problem from different angles, for example, on-demand valet versus online reservations. With different models having different merits and demerits, the coming time will tell which method stands out as the best of all.

Smarter Cars

Soon, we can expect more “connected” cars on the road, increasing not only in numbers but in capability too. We’ll still need to park, but our cars will deal with the logistics. For drivers, parking via the connected car will be a smooth and natural transition.

With a prescribed understanding of our predictable needs and behaviors, the connected car will keep us plugged in while handling our entire commuting experience, including end-to-end parking. This will be so convenient to the average driver that with time, those who always parked the traditional way will start to shift to pre-booking through their cars.

The smart parking industry continues to evolve as an increasing number of cities struggle with traffic congestion and inadequate parking availability. While the deployment of sensor technologies continues to be core to the development of smart parking, a wide variety of other technology innovations are also enabling more adaptable systems—including cameras, wireless communications, data analytics, induction loops, smart parking meters, and advanced algorithms.

The future of parking indeed seems to be bright. It promises more empowered drivers, better use of parking space and resources, and opportunities for parking operators in the near future and then years to come.