If in each parking space in large cities there was a sensor that would indicate whether or not it is free, many cars would stop circulating on our streets.
We would have an application that would indicate the free places, and we would only have to wait for one of them to turn green to go there, without having to go round and round in search of the desired area.
That solution could help cities like Barcelona, where there are almost free green areas reserved for neighbors. Each citizen has an area in which they can park, but finding a place in the area is hell any day at any time. There are thousands of cars that circulate every day looking for their green zone, and in many occasions they end up giving up going to the outskirts of the city, where it is free to park without having to be a neighbor.
The fact is that the solution they want to implement with Flash Park makes a lot of sense. Sensors powered by renewable energies that indicate if an area is free or not, to feed an app that helps us save time. The sensors are designed to use 5G NBIoT technology as standard to transmit real-time data to track the status of monitored parking spaces.
Logically, there are several problems that they will have to face, from people occupying a space without using the app while 10 cars drive to it, to people who trick the sensor into thinking that it is busy while they wait for the family car that is arriving.
The first problem can be solved in part with a 15-minute seat reservation system, the same as that of the rental motorcycles, although that will not prevent someone from occupying the space during that time, since the use of the app will not be mandatory .
The second point will be solved by making the sensor unreachable by the user, which is not something solar in the middle of the ground, since anyone can easily cover it. On their website they indicate that their application uses a network of automatic parking detection devices that works without user interaction, small in size, resistant to adverse weather conditions and vandalism, so it seems that they have planned this.
Flash Park is a startup from Barcelona, and has been working on the subject since 2020. They have been one of the winners of the 2nd edition of the 5G Barcelona and Wayra (Telefnica) acceleration program, so we hope they will grow and grow. become a reality in order to decrease the number of cars in search mode.
