Back to the future of car travel

In the 1980s, the cult-classic movie Back to the Future had grand visions for the then-distant date of 21 October 2015. Some things it got right, such as the ubiquity of videoconferencing and our obsession for sequels and 3D movies.

But in other respects it got it completely wrong — where are all the flying cars? And don’t even mention hoverboards.

But one thing that hasn’t really changed all that much over the last 30 years is parking. The vast majority of parking solutions are still variations on the classic parking meter; motorists pay lump sums to park for a fixed allotment of time. And that’s after they’ve circled the block looking for a spot. And so many of us waste money overfeeding the meter in order to avoid anxiety.

The system has failed to embrace modern technologies. It is inefficient and expensive, and understandably frustrates drivers.

Industries such as transportation and accommodation are being disrupted by the likes of Uber and Airbnb; they’ve been driven forward through technological innovations. So why can’t parking be disrupted too? How will parking change in 30 years’ time?

One connected ecosystem

We are beginning to see glimpses today, but by 2045 we will be living in a world where everything we interact with is connected to the internet.

At the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year, manufacturers showed off a range of smart devices, including Wi-Fi connected washing machines and coffee machines. We are already living in a world where fridges are connected to Twitter. But the real, as yet untapped potential is found within the connections between devices. Herein lies an opportunity to upend industries that have comfortably operated within the status quo for decades.

Within the next 5 to 10 years, the majority of new devices on the market will be smart devices, connected to the internet. Samsung, for example, is planning that by 2020, every product in its catalogue will be internet connected.

These innovations will soon lead to one connected ecosystem, linking the cars we drive, the phones we use and even the roads we drive on. The disparate pieces within the parking system will be integrated with one another. The road will talk to the car, which will be linked to an app on the phone that will then relay the relevant information to the owner of the parking space.

This connected ecosystem will help to deliver real-time parking solutions. Motorists will be alerted to the locations of nearby available parking spaces, alleviating the need to endlessly circle the city searching for a spot. Drivers will have the ability to reserve spaces in advance and then be guided along the quickest route using real-time data from the cars and traffic conditions surrounding them.

Even today we are experiencing the huge potential of this ecosystem. App-based solution CellOPark has been adopted by councils in Perth and Wollongong, enabling drivers to pay only for the minutes that they use and removing the need for physical tickets and cash. Similarly, services such as Parkhound and Divvy enable the owners of unused parking spaces to rent them out to drivers — a sort of Airbnb for parking.

No longer will drivers need to collect paper tickets, nor will they have to overfeed meters ‘just to be safe’. All the complexities such as location, vehicle ID and duration of stay will be processed automatically in the background, providing motorists with a seamless parking experience.

Automated cars

There has been much speculation over driverless cars in recent years, and rightly so, with major players in Silicon Valley on the verge of entering the mass market here. Google’s self-driving car project has been in development since 2009, and there are rumours that Apple won’t be leaving this market uncontested either, with sources suggesting the company will release a car by as early as 2019.

A future involving driverless cars is not a question of if, but when.

While initial objections to driverless cars have centred around safety concerns, they may in fact be safer than their human-operated counterparts. In more than 2.9 million kilometres of test driving, Google’s project is yet to register a single accident while in self-driving mode. Widespread adoption of self-driving cars will likely reduce the rate of car-related deaths (over 90% of which are due to human error), and in the USA alone could save the economy over US$400 billion annually.

We are already beginning to experience the benefits of advanced automation installed within consumer vehicles. Lane-keeping systems — which have been adopted by Ford, Toyota and Mercedes — analyse lane markings and, when necessary, amend the vehicle’s path and ensure it remains within its designated lane. Since 2003, Toyota’s Prius has featured automated parallel parking, and since then, many other manufacturers have also equipped their vehicles with similar parking-assist features.

In the not-too-distant future we’ll be driving in an automated, connected ecosystem of automobiles. Much of the advanced technology discussed here will be commonplace within a couple of decades, helping to save motorists both time and money on the road.

The future of driving and parking looks bright. And who knows, if we’re lucky, we may finally get that hoverboard we’ve been dreaming of too.

Michael Doherty is General Manager of CellOPark Australia, which provides advanced, app-based parking solutions for local councils and universities.

Image courtesy DooMMeer under CC