June 4, 2015
If you live in a major metropolitan city like Houston, finding public parking is a difficult, if not seemingly impossible, endeavor. BMW may soon be able to provide a solution for beleaguered drivers in the form of an experimental program that utilizes movement data to predict the availability of public parking. The program is called Dynamic Parking Prediction and, according to BMW, is designed to “shorten the search for vacant on-street parking” by relying on vehicle movement patterns to determine the areas in which public parking may be available. A BMW i3 electric car model equipped with Dynamic Parking Prediction technology will debut at the TU-Automotive Detroit car fair on June 3-4. According to its developers, BMW’s Dynamic Parking works best in densely populated areas such as cities where there are enough vehicles to provide the system with reliable data. The Dynamic Parking Prediction program was first developed by BMW, in partnership with the connected car services company INRIX, and successfully road-tested in Munich. Dynamic Parking Prediction is an extension of BMW’s existing ConnectedDrive technology, which collects real-time traffic data to help drivers navigate around vehicle congestion and plan better routes. However, while navigation systems like ConnectedDrive warn drivers of upcoming traffic before they encounter it, Dynamic Parking Prediction goes a step further by using the same movement data to assist drivers in finding open parking spaces and avoiding parking-related traffic. BMW has been heavily invested in connectivity technology lately. Recently in this space, we reported on BMW’s plans to offer remote parking for the 7 Series. As if the plush quality of their luxury vehicles wasn’t enough, BMW seems committed to upping their game by offering cool features that most automakers won’t be able to touch. Keep in mind that Dynamic Parking Prediction is still in the prototype stage and BMW hasn’t yet announced if or when it’ll make it to the production schedule. As always, stay tuned to Auto Publishers for further updates!