A woman struggles to park her car in a parking lot. Eventually a frustrated driver of another vehicle helps her park it. Maybe she was just having a really bad day.
The AP reports that Forth Worth, Texas has implemented new parking meters that contain censors. The censors reset the meter each time a car leaves. Some in favor of the new meters believe the new meters will free up more parking spaces. Others think it is just a way for the city to make more revenue.
A new online marketplace for parking places has debuted. The service called ParkWhiz allows people to buy and sell parking spaces. The ParkWhiz blog explains the wide range of parking places that might be sold on ParkWhiz.
You could be a parking garage operator with excess space or just an average Joe (or Josephine) that wants to offer up their driveway for parking. Live near a sports arena? Have a space available for monthly parking? Simply list it on ParkWhiz and watch the cash come pouring in. ParkWhiz makes it easy to reach a huge group of people that would love to park in your available space.
ParkWhiz also aims to make it easier for people to find parking places. Somewhat Frank explains how ParkWhiz might help you find a parking near the Sears Tower.
ParkWhiz, a Chicago-based startup, might be able to assist with this problem, as it offers users the ability to quickly search for parking near a location. Currently in beta, ParkWhiz offers parking search only in Chicago and Philadelphia. If you are looking to check out the Sears Tower in Chicago then you simply type in "Sears Tower" and ParkWhiz should present search results and a map of all the parking locations within up to a 10 mile radius, so you have instant visibility into the parking situation before you leave your door. The site fields user ratings for each parking venue. ParkWhiz currently does not appear to offer a mobile component but might have one in the works as it could be an extremely helpful feature.
ParkWhiz is currently in beta mode and so far parking information is only available for Chicago and Philadelphia but they will be expanding to new cities in the near future.
Wiredreports that a robotic parking structure at the Garden Street Garage in Hoboken, New Jersey trapped all of the cars inside it for several days in a row. The robot stopped parking cars when its software was stopped by Robotic Parking of Clearwater, Florida after a contract dispute with the city.
The Hoboken garage is one of a handful of fully automated parking structures that make more efficient use of space by eliminating ramps and driving lanes, lifting and sliding automobiles into slots and shuffling them as needed. If the robot shuts down, there is no practical way to manually remove parked vehicles.
In the days that followed, both sides dragged each other into court. Robotic accused Hoboken of violating its copyright. "This case is about them using software without a license," said Dennis Clarke, chief operating officer of Robotic Parking, in a telephone interview last week.
At the same time, Hoboken accused Robotic of setting booby traps in the code, causing the garage to malfunction. Then Robotic accused Hoboken of endangering its business by allowing a competitor into the garage.
In the meantime, many of the garage's customers simply couldn't get their cars out.
This story highlights a big downside of parking in a robot-powered parking garage. Your car could become trapped inside if there is a malfunction or if there is a contract dispute between the city and the robot and software provider. On the plus side, it can save you from having to navigate up several levels of a busy parking garage as you struggle to find a parking spot.
Canada.com reports that Vancouver, Canada has come up with a very convenient way for citizens to pay parking meter fees. Canadians can now make payments with their cell phone according to the article.
It is being provided under contract to Verrus Mobile Technologies, a Vancouver company that has already signed up commercial parking lots and cities in Canada, the U.S. and Britain.
Verrus gets paid through a 30-cent surcharge paid by the driver, which it calls a convenience fee, on each parking transaction using the service.
The approximately 8,000 city meters are not changing except for new decals with a meter number on them. All Vancouver meters will have decals within a few weeks.
Motorists can call a city phone number, provide the number of the meter and order exactly as much time as they need, up to the normal limit of the meter. That means no more plugging a dollar or two into the meter when you intend to stay only 15 minutes but you're short of exact change.
The city of Vancouver has established a website for the service here. This sounds like a very convenient way to pay for the parking meter -- much easier then carrying change around. Hopefully this will be available in U.S. cities soon if it isn't already.
Several blogs are talking about the CarLoft, a new architectural design that allows people to park their car right outside their condo or apartment using a car elevator. You can see some more photographs of what it would look like on the CarLoft.de website. This would be an expensive add-on to any apartment building and would most-likely be part of luxury apartments or condos. It could get it in the way a scenic view if the apartment or condo had one. Of course, some luxury car owners might consider their vehicle a scenic view and like the idea of being able to keep a close eye on it. (via -> Autoblog -> We Make Money Not Art -> Land-Living)
A new technology called Parkmate from Siemens VDO promises to end the problem of finding a parking space. Parkmate will also park your car in the space it finds. The Daily Telegraphdescribes a test drive of the parking technology.
Cruising slowly up a suburban street in Regensburg, southern Germany, it did not take long for the test car - a BMW estate - to spot a space.
Having worked out the geometry, Parkmate made a reassuring melodic chime, which tells the driver to stop and let the car steer itself into the gap. Then, as if by magic, the steering wheel turned and the BMW sidled inches past the car next to it and into the space - before hitting the kerb and mounting it.
In fairness it was a very low kerb.
Attempt number two was similar to the first. One interested spectator was the owner of the blue car at the back of the space.
The second test drive found another parking spot and the car did hit the curb again but managed to fit into the spot with a little help from the Telegraph test driver. If the car is hitting curbs what will happen when two cars with Parkmate-enabled vehicles compete for the same spot? Once the kinks are worked out this could be a promising technology -- especially for the parallel parking impaired. The Telegraph says the technology is expect sometime in 2008. (via The Raw Feed)
CarHarbor is a new tool in the planning stages that will let people list and sell parking spaces when they are not using them. The company plans to create a vast inventory of available parking spaces starting with the San Francisco area. CarHarbor explained their mission in a recent blog post.
CarHarbor wants to tap into the everyday frustrations we all face when it comes to parking our cars. We are developing an online tool that can resolve those frustrations. CarHarbor should demonstrate that reasonable people can cooperate to benefit their community and themselves.
We want to engage you in this process so that our solutions can be highly responsive to the diverse set of parking problems people face. Our initial focus is on San Francisco, where we're based, but our interests are national if not global in nature too.
TechCrunch says advisors for CarHarbor include Craig Newmark, Jim Lazarus and Scott Rafer. Craig Newmark is the founder of Craiglist so there are some big names involved with this new project.
The days of parking in a spot that still has
a few minutes left on the meter may be
gone. The Wall Street Journalreports that new technologies are making illegal parking more difficult
if not impossible to do. One type of smart meter
automatically resets the amount of time left
to zero after a vehicle leaves the parking spot.
Another smart meter notifies the authorities if
a driver has kept their vehicle in a parking
place over the allowed amount of time.
In Pacific Grove, Calif., parking meters know when a car
pulls out of the spot and quickly reset to zero --
eliminating drivers' little joy of parking for free on
someone else's quarters.
In Montreal, when cars stay past their time limit, meters
send real-time alerts to an enforcement officer's hand-held
device, reducing the number of people needed to monitor
parking spaces -- not to mention drivers' chances of
getting away with violations. Meanwhile, in Aspen, Colo.,
wireless "in-car" meters may eliminate the need for curbside
parking meters altogether: They dangle from the rear-view
mirror inside the car, ticking off prepaid time.
A new car from Toyota may help those who suffer from parallel-parking difficulties. The new car is able to park itself using computer technology and rear-mounted cameras. The car should be available in the U.S. next year.
A new online marketplace for parking places has debuted. The service called 
Wired 
Canada.com 
Several blogs are talking about the CarLoft, a new architectural design that allows people to park their car right outside their condo or apartment using a car elevator. You can see some more photographs of what it would look like on the 
A new technology called Parkmate from 
