The worst thing about leaving home, with the network that every piece of tech (and our pants) has the password to, is getting to your destination and having to find parking. Say what you like about SA but we really didn’t think this whole parking-spaces thing through properly.
BMW might be taking care of that little issue though, via a new software tool set to find its way into future models of the German car lineup. The system, called On-Street Park, is the creation of a company called INRIX and you can think of it as a sort of probability indicator for whether you’re going to find a parking space.
On-Street Park will be integrated into BMW dashboards and will show drivers where they’re likely to find a vacant spot. Likelyhood gets a visual representation, so if your street onscreen is green then you’re probably in luck. Yellow is a tad iffy and red… go home and watch Netflix or suffer a search-induced burst vein in your forehead.
As for when we’ll see it here, the way the tech works make South African availability unlikely for a while. On-Street Park uses information from parking meters, the cities that it is supported in as well as other vehicles that feature the technology. We’ve still got a ways to go before local cities are connected to that extent but it’s the way we’re headed. Eventually. For now, leave early enough that you can find a parking-spot before you miss that important meeting.
Source: Gizmodo
