The diminishing availability of parking spaces and the rapidly surging number of vehicles is creating a wide demand-supply gap for parking space availability. The UAE is one of the most badly hit countries in this aspect, as people here are struggling every day to find a decent parking space.
Due to this challenge, people are resorting to technology to create seamless and well-managed parking solutions. It is commonly known that technology is a highly reliable and efficient medium for numerous modern-world challenges, parking being one of them. The latest tech advancements facilitate effortless parking space planning and management.
This blog will cover everything you need to know about how UAE is using technology to its benefit and is adapting smart parking. Let’s start the blog by discussing the parking problems in UAE.
The Parking Conundrums in UAE
Parking space is one of the most prominent problems for vehicle owners in the United Arab Emirates after highly congested traffic. The citizens are always on a quest to find a decent parking space, which is becoming more and more challenging every day due to the rapidly increasing number of vehicles in the country.
To explain, the car ownership ratio in Dubai is one car for every two people or 540 cars per 1000 people. This ratio is extremely high for the country and is causing major distress for the citizens. On the other hand, the similar statistics for countries like New York and London are 305 and 213 respectively for 1000 people.
This statistical information demonstrates how serious the parking problem in Dubai is. To add to that, vehicle ownership amount is increasing every day, resulting in the situation only getting worse every day.
To overcome this challenge, Dubai is widely utilizing technology-based solutions and is making its parking ‘smart’. However, what exactly is smart parking? Let’s find out about more about this concept in the upcoming section.
Is Smart Parking the Solution?
Intelligent parking is a concept that focuses on improving parking management using the latest technologies. These technologies enable the state as well as the citizens to make optimum use of parking spaces and overcome the hurdles caused by the lack of parking spaces.
It cannot be denied that the latest technology is self-sufficient and smart in numerous ways and is well capable of overcoming numerous challenges. For this reason, UAE has been actively implementing intelligent parking solutions and has been benefitting from them as well.
The city is now equipped with intelligent parking technologies that aid issues regarding the lack of parking space. Even though the problem is far from being solved, it is safe to say that UAE’s shift towards smart parking has been a fruitful decision.
We are sure that by now you are clear on what smart parking exactly is. You must also understand that the benefits of smart parking are way beyond managing parking spaces efficiently. The next section will cover the top 5 benefits of having a smart parking system.
5 Advantages of Implementing Smart Parking
Reduced Carbon Emissions
You must have understood by now that finding a parking spot is not an easy task in the UAE. Vehicle owners spend a lot of time traveling to find an ideal parking spot. Naturally, this increases the consumption of fuel.
As a result, there is a considerable amount of carbon emission that a vehicle generates just to find a parking spot. However, this unnecessary carbon emission can be controlled by integrating smart parking technologies.
This is because the concept of smart parking revolves around enabling people to find a parking spot in the least possible time. Naturally, the reduced time people will spend finding a parking spot will also contribute to reduced carbon emissions.
This will also add to the overall reduction in the country’s air pollution levels and will promote an environment-friendly lifestyle.
Less Traffic Blockage
It is commonly known that finding a parking space can be a time-consuming task, especially in locations like the UAE, which are known for their scarcity of parking spaces.
As a result, an increased time to find a parking space can often result in traffic congestion on the roads, especially when numerous people are looking to park a vehicle. Moreover, excessive road congestion often results in traffic blockage, which can at times take hours to clear.
However, by implementing smart parking systems, we can ensure that there are no unnecessary road blockages resulting from vehicle owners looking for spaces to park their vehicles. Smart parking technology enables quick and seamless location of parking spots, reducing the chances of unnecessary traffic on roads.
What’s more? When integrated with other high-end technologies like AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Big Data, the parking management systems also predict the future demand for parking space. This will further enhance your business’s planning and resource management. We have thoroughly explained the benefits of AI in smart parking in the upcoming section, so make sure to read until the end.
Optimum Parking Space Utilization
One of the most prominent reasons for the lack of parking space availability is inefficient parking space management. To explain, a lot of parking space is wasted because of inefficient space management. This is especially the case in urban areas, where the roads tend to be more congested.
Having a park management system in this situation will not only ensure that the parking space is easy to find but will also ensure its optimum utilization. This will avoid wasting time that could potentially be utilized for productive activities.
This is one of the most significant benefits of having a parking management system. Moreover, IoT can further enhance this benefit by ensuring an optimal track of parking space utilization.
Cost Saving
Looking for a parking space is a time and money-consuming activity. Moreover, while spending time looking for a parking space, people often waste time that could be otherwise used for money-generating activities. As a result, inefficient parking space management can turn out to be a costly affair.
To add to that, while looking for a parking space, vehicle owners utilize a significant amount of fuel, which in some cases can be even as high as $345. This information provides an insightful view of how cost-intensive a badly managed parking system can turn out to be.
Smart parking systems are a complete solution in this context and aim to efficiently save the time and money that drivers would otherwise waste while looking for a space to park their vehicles. This makes investment in smart parking a cost-effective approach with a significant ROI.
This time utilization can be further optimized by integrating automation technology for opening and closing gates. This technology is based on IoT-enabled sensors which are the latest tech innovation. The technology works by sending a signal to the gate whenever the sensors are activated from the approaching vehicle movement.
Enhanced Safety
Smart parking systems are truly intelligent and have the capability to track the parking process from start to end. Therefore, having a smart parking system ensures that there is optimum control over the people, further enhancing law enforcement.
To explain, a smart parking system allows the admin to completely track the vehicle’s path and check whether or not it is following the right path. Moreover, one can warn the driver in advance about upcoming road blockages and one-ways.
To add to that, real-time vehicle tracking also facilitates optimum law enforcement. The idea here is to create a centralized database of parking information and add particular information on law violations. This will enable police to be aware of areas with the highest crime density rates and take measures on the same.
These were a few of the many benefits of smart parking systems. Now that you know why it is a great idea to invest in a smart parking system, you must know about different technologies that support this concept. The next section will provide a detailed list of all the technologies that facilitate smart parking.
Top 4 Technologies that Facilitate Smart Parking
IoT-enabled Parking Sensors
It is almost impossible to integrate smart parking without IoT technology. The Internet of Things is one of the latest innovations in the tech sector and is gaining immense popularity because of its benefits.
IoT-enabled parking sensors have a significant role in solving the parking problems in UAE. These IoT sensors are based on a centralized database that enlists all the parking spots available in the city.
The core function of these sensors is to find information about all the available and vacant parking spots in the area and communicate it to the nearby drivers. Moreover, certain IoT sensors also enable the drivers to reserve a certain parking spot in advance, ensuring well-planned and hassle-free parking.
Generally speaking, these IoT-based sensors are integrated with technologies like mobile applications.
Smart Parking Apps
Mobile applications are a highly popular form of technology. Speaking factually, the market for mobile apps is expected to cross 206.73 billion USD by the end of 2022. Moreover, mobile applications are highly compatible with smart parking technology and have the potential to take the concept to the next level of preciseness and efficiency.
Since mobile applications are easy to understand and interact with, they make an optimal option to be integrated with other technologies like IoT. These IoT-integrated smart parking apps enable vehicle owners to locate, reserve and utilize a parking spot seamlessly.
This makes mobile app development for smart parking a great business idea. You must know that when you plan to build a mobile application, you will have to choose from native app development approach and cross-platform app development approach.
Your application’s performance, development cost and timeline, quality, usability, and other factors will vary from one approach to another. As a result, you must choose the most optimum option to get the best possible results from investment in app development.
Artificial Intelligence
AI (Artificial Intelligence) is one of the most popular technologies at present and is globally recognized for its wide usage in different industries. The technology is based on the concept of machine learning and big data and has the potential to be an excellent auxiliary technology to smart parking systems.
By using AI-powered smart parking systems, we can take the concept of smart parking to the next level of technological excellence. AI is highly self-sufficient and facilitates the automation of various processes and tasks.
In the context of smart parking, these tasks can be creating a database of rush hours, understanding traffic flow patterns, and regulating optimum parking strategies as per the given instructions. Moreover, this technology, like many others, is highly integrable with mobile applications. Doing so creates a link between the parking systems and drivers and ensures the implementation of optimum smart parking practices.
Parking Management Software
Implementation of any technology requires a strong central system that connects and facilitates different networks to each other. Smart parking is not an exception in this matter. For this reason, smart parking management software is an essential part of the overall smart parking concept.
Whether you wish to implement IoT-based smart parking sensors or mobile apps that facilitate seamless parking management, you will need software to manage your overall operations.
These software act as a central database for all the information, which in this case, is parking spots. Moreover, having a software will ensure that the whole parking management process is flawless and well-managed. This makes smart parking software a highly viable option while planning to digitalize parking.
The Final Verdict
UAE’s parking problems are not a new challenge for the country. Owing to the increasing intensity of the problem, the challenges for vehicle owners have extended from finding a parking space to swiftly driving on the roads.
However, technology has the potential to overcome this challenge and make finding a parking space a seamless and swift process for the citizens of UAE. The latest tech innovations facilitate digital parking systems that allow effortless and fully automated parking space management and efficient parking space utilization.
Various technologies facilitate this need and bring innovative and robust parking solutions. All one needs to do is find a solution that is at par with their individual requirements and undertake a well-planned technology implementation. This will largely solve the current parking problems in UAE and will avoid new ones from arising, therefore creating a seamless solution for vehicle parking.
