According to Siemens, up to 40% of total traffic volume in downtown areas consists of motorists searching for parking space. As part of its Traffic Solutions business, Siemens has a Parking Guidance System that improves the efficiency of finding vacant spaces in parking garages.
Taking it a step further, what if this concept could be extended to cover all parking spots in an entire city? As it turns out, a pilot program to implement this is already underway in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
But while these initiatives simply serve to put the data "out there", imagine taking it to the next level altogether with this scenario: you're driving your Ford Fusion to a particular address, which you've already set using the SYNC system. You now tell SYNC to "find parking". Your car uses your smartphone to tap into a centralized database that captures real-time data on parking space availability. An algorithm matches you to your best parking spot, and you can reserve it (and pay for it) through your smartphone.
Of course, there are several implementation details that would have to be worked out, not least being how to ensure that somebody else doesn't just sneak into your reserved spot!
In the cities of the future, this would be just part of a larger solution to the problem of getting people from A to B, and would work in conjunction with intelligent traffic management systems, public transit systems and overarching transit corridor management solutions.
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