By Jon LeSage, contributing editor, Dealer Digest Daily
SITUATION:
A study by UC Berkeley Transportation Center found that during one year, drivers in a tiny 15-block district in Los Angeles drove more than 950,000 miles, emitted 730 metric tons of carbon dioxide, and burned 47,000 gallons of gas and they were just searching for parking!
The irony is that theres an estimated 4.5 parking spaces per vehicle in the US, including three surface parking spaces per vehicle. But thats absolutely pointless to the urban driver running late and looking for that precious space.
For young drivers just looking for another reason to put off buying a car, what can be done about it?
SIGNIFICANCE:
Experts say a few key components are needed to make sustainable smart city parking
Data management, software development, innovative pricing, sensors, smartphone integration, public-private partnerships, and viable, profitable business cases are essential to make it work.
Such Intelligent Transportation Systems, or ITS, are characterized by three Is:
1. Instrumentation the hardware to collect and transmit mobility data.
2. Interconnection the network to share that data.
3. Intelligence the user-facing programs and efficient processing algorithms that put the data to work to enhance personal mobility.
Whats Next? Global automakers such as BMW and Ford are participating in smart transportation initiatives with government agencies, universities, and technology developers. Its all part of the paradigm shift that OEMs and dealer networks will be facing in the near future.
Source: GreenBiz.comThe Article Smart Parking a Paradigm Changer for Intelligent Transportation appeared first on Automotive Digest.