What do we know about technology in parking?

During the past several years, the use of technology has accelerated in the parking and transportation industry.

As the number of cars on our roads rises and cities struggle with congestion, diminishing space and increasing concerns over air quality, technology in the parking community continues to evolve to deliver solutions to these concerns.

Sensor technology has been a large development, as have cameras, wireless communications, phone payments, and data analytics.

With these advances come new terms and changes to some definitions of terms we thought we knew.

All of it to make parking smarter. Of course, things never stand still for long, and we can already see on the horizon further change – we know that the smart parking infrastructure will be significantly influenced by the arrival of automated vehicles (AVs).

Trials of these self-parking vehicles are taking place across the UK and next we may see automated car parks or robot valets.

All of this will fundamentally change the way cars are used, affecting how often and where future vehicles will be parked, and we must continue to keep on top of the innovations to ensure they truly continue to maximise the benefits of the many developments aimed at improving the management of parking services.

This Technology Glossary for Parking Professionals in the UK provides you with crucial knowledge. It will help you better communicate with your peers, vendors, and the public when discussing parking technology.

It is our A-Z of parking technology terms. We identify terms such as Optical Character Recognition (OCR), PCI-DSS, Secure Access Module (SAM), Smart City, and Transportation Demand Management (TDM).

To be part of these developments it is important that we understand these terms. The parking profession must be at the forefront of future mobility and be ready to bring in its expertise and knowledge in new and innovative ways to improve the customer’s experience.

You can access this glossary on the BPA’s library, here.

With thanks to Bryony Fox, Christina Onesirosan Martinez, Kelvin Reynolds, Kieran Fitsall, Keith Williams, Kirsty Reeves, Steve Walker and the International Parking Institute’s Parking Technology Committee for their contributions to this information.

We are continually identifying ways in which we can enable the parking profession to be at the forefront of preparations for the future of parking through our Parking 20:20 network.