Is parking the bane of your urban existence? Are you tired of going round the block and walking a mile back to your destination? Perhaps Streetline has the solution for smarter parking. Former Ford CEO Bill Ford sure thinks so as he’s contributing to the tune of $15 million via Fontinalis Partners to help the company further develop solutions to parking problems for the driver.
Parker shows you where the spaces are open right now, with live information from sensors. No parking available on the street just now? Parker also shows you where convenient parking lots and garages are. Image Credit: Streetline
The Streetline Parker uses wireless sensors and cell phones to help drivers find the closest parking spot. The wireless sensors are embedded in the street around parking spots and in parking meters. The sensors are all connected to a network which processes parking availability via a central office. Then potential parkers or drivers are told of open spots that they can use to park on their cell phones.
Streetline CEO Zia Yusuf said that the company has connected a few thousand parking spots via the system. The company is four years old and has successfully used its parking technology in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City and Sausalito to date.
Many existing customers are expanding the small trial deployment of sensors into much larger networks now. The funds that have been raised will also be used to expand its network of sensors and services as per the CEO. The wireless sensors are easily embeddable in parking spaces or they can be surface mounted, just like reflectors. The app saves time, fuel and makes efficient use of existing parking in the city.