Ford is taking parking pretty seriously.
Having already announced a partnership with ParkWhiz, enabling drivers to book advanced parking, Ford is also working with IBM to develop a parking spotter app, as part of the automaker's Smart Mobility Experimentation Platform. This is also part of Ford's GoPark Painless Parking experiment, with the automaker refining its parking space prediction technology.
"When a driver is looking for a parking space, the technology will provide insight into parking spots that are available and legal to use — allowing the driver to avoid wasting fuel driving around looking for a valid place to park," Ford and IBM's joint press release on the impending app said. "The mobile application provided will include a parking enforcement feature that will benefit the city by supporting its parking enforcement activities — serving as a key element of new smart city initiatives."
The release added: "By uncovering patterns, the platform will be able to guide a driver to an open parking space. For instance, a consumer leaving a store gets to her car and starts the ignition — the first step of a pattern. A few seconds later, she backs out and drives away — step two. At this point, a broadcast message can then be conveyed to other drivers entering the lot presumably looking for a place to park. The message can not only tell the driver there is an available spot, but also its precise location."
Ford and IBM's collaborative parking app is still in its pilot stage.
