Lack of vision and clarity on policies are major roadblocks.

Ajay Raina

- Director & Chief Executive Officer, Tedra Automotive Solutions

Tedra is a customer focused parking solution provider with a wide range of customised solutions. Tedra is committed to provide simple, safe, economic and reliable parking solutions for various requirements. Ajay Raina, Director & Chief Executive Officer, Tedra Automotive Solutions speaks about the huge potential and major challenges in smart parking solutions.

To what extent has smart parking been adopted in India and what is the growth potential?

It is still a nascent concept but catching up fast. From being a product that originated from the needs of Mumbai city, today we see requirement of parking systems coming across from not only the big four metros but also from state capitals, B towns ,smart cities and various city centers. Potential remains large with rapid urbanization, aspirational middle class and growing economy.

What are the challenges in the implementation of smart parking systems in cities included in the Smart Cities Mission and what are the steps to be taken to overcome them?

The biggest challenge is acceptance of automated parking systems as a safest mode of parking. This has a lot to do with user education and familiarity with the facility. For public parking and smart city missions decision makers need to be sensitive to quality of life they offer to in terms of drivability, parking, pollution, traffic management. Lack of vision and clarity on policies are major roadblocks. Parking designated areas, multi park facility, improving technology, traffic management, parking policy are some basic steps to start with.

What role does AI and robotics play in automated parking system?

Our lives will be governed by AI, this is going to be the new normal. In parking the automotive industry is racing ahead at a considerable speed. As society begins to embrace the benefits of electrical energy in driving, driverless cars, artificial intelligence, other elements of the automotive industry take similar urns towards efficiency and brilliance.

As this evolution continues, the logistics of parking too comes into question. Smart parking using IoT, self -driving and dynamic charging are some of the key developments that we shall see.

How prepared is the developers community to adopt such automated systems?

Some are absolutely ready and want to offer the best to their customers to create a differentiator. Some are in the old mindset where they think - it is still a sellers-market; but eventually all will have to comply to a market necessity and that is where automation is heading,it  is becoming a necessity.

Kindly brief us about the company's tech-enabled IoT based parking solutions?

Many cities, such as Beijing, Los Angeles, Dubai, San Francisco, and New York are piloting new and trending parking solutions. These smart car park systems work on low-power sensors and smart meters to track the occupancy oravailability of parking spots. It is an IoT-based device that gives you a signal about the availability of parking spaces by indicating the spaces that are free and the ones occupied. The IoT devices are fixed on each parking slot from where it sends a signal to a nearby receiver which, in turn, gives you a continuous live update about the availability of all the slots. The collected data will be used to broadcast parking information to a parking guidance system and smartphoneapp for drivers.  Besides the location of the parking space, drivers will get information like the size of the parking space and even nearby public transportation information nearby public transportation information if the suggestion is needed.

What regulatory and policy reform do you expect for faster adoption of smart parking solutions and what is your road map for the next couple of years?

There is a dire need to have a proper policy framework for management of our cities, especially developing a parking policy and management. We must curb the free-for-all, anywhere and everywhere approach and reduce the area given for parking. We must encourage designated parking areas, a parking duration policy, pricing of parking to generate revenues for better facilities and discourage long hours, ownership of multiple vehicles, and encourage car pools to work. The government should have a clear-cut policy guideline on public automated parking systems as it involves a large capital outlay. Cities should have an area wise parking plan with a thorough understanding of the supply and demand, peak and non-peak traffic situations. Policy makers and private professional parking operators can come together and play a great role in easing this problem with successful business models encouraging organised parkingand commute.

We shall be focusing on technology and indigenisation. Made in India is the new mantra and we are working towards that objective and looking at the world as our market.

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