Metropolis Technologies, Inc., an artificial intelligence company whose computer vision platform enables checkout-free payment experiences, closed its $1.8-billion acquisition of SP Plus Corporation, the largest parking network and provider of mobility services for aviation, commercial, hospitality, and institutional clients in North America. Following its take-private acquisition of SP+, Metropolis is now the largest parking network in North America with more than 4,000 locations.
Pango, the smart mobility platform, acquired the ground transportation company Gett for $175 million from its current shareholders — the venture capital fund VNV Global, the global investment company Access Industries, and the private equity fund MCI Capital Group. Following completion of the transaction, which is subject to approval by the Israeli Competition Authority, Pango intends to retain Gett’s wider global teams and will continue to support Gett’s growth in the ride-hailing and delivery markets in Israel and the U.K.
Nick Moschetti has joined Propark Mobility as an Executive Vice President, overseeing the Midwest Region of the company, which provides parking and mobility services for more than 1,000 hospitality, healthcare, commercial, and off-airport locations in more than140 U.S. cities. Moschetti will report directly to the Chief Operating Officer and will be responsible for all aspects of parking management and mobility services throughout the Midwest Region.
Propark Mobility also announced that Kelly Sighel has joined the company as Vice President of Acquisition Transitions. In this role, Sighel will guide the strategic integration of acquired companies. Propark Mobility also named Wilson Tang as its new Vice President of Sales Analytics.
FAAC Technologies, a provider of access and parking solutions in both residential and commercial sectors, announced the rebranding of its Parking Business Unit to FAAC Parking Solutions. This update includes a new logo and website that reflect the organization’s ongoing evolution to a software solution-oriented business.
High-performance door maker Rytec Corporation has built a new state-of-the-art Smart Factory in Hartford, Wis. Since fully implementing the facility in late 2023, the company has significantly increased production, shortened lead times by 50%, and begun to reduce material scrap.
Junction Industries, a provider of advanced automation and infrastructure solutions, acquired Skyline Parking AG, which specializes in automated vehicle storage and retrieval. Skyline Parking is wholly owned by Skyline Automation LLC, the U.S. subsidiary of Junction Industries.
Effective the week of May 13, 2024, the City of Cleveland, Ohio, began replacing its aging single-space and pay-and-display multi-space parking meters with solar-powered pay-by-plate Smart Parking Pay Stations from the Flowbird Group, a provider of curbside management and urban mobility solutions.
Lee Whittemore recently became the new Director of Customer Success for North America for GetMyParking (GMP), a provider of interoperable parking solutions. In his new role, Whittemore will work with GMP team members, clients, and technology partners, spearheading initiatives to drive seamless adoption and client success utilizing GMP’s innovative suite of Internet of Things solutions.
The Lawrence City Commission — the governing body for the City of Lawrence, Kan. — approved a new parking amnesty program. Scheduled to run for a month-long window in Fall 2024, the program will give citizens an opportunity to reduce their parking citation debts owed to the city by 50%. Collected fines will be equally distributed between the city’s Parking Department and the Douglas County Community Foundation. Funds directed to the Parking Department will help fund downtown projects, including parking garage renovations and the Downtown Ambassador program.
The California Energy Commission awarded Flash, a provider of parking and charging solutions, a $5.8-million grant for a large-scale electric vehicle (EV) charger demonstration project in Oakland. The first-of-its-kind project will deploy at least 446 low-cost Level 2 EV chargers during a two-year period in convenient, high-density, high-visibility installations in a 1.5-mile area around downtown Oakland.
Parkopedia, a connected services provider for automotive original equipment manufacturers, has teamed up with the digital platform cybersecurity company Irdeto to introduce the first true multi-contract solution designed to simplify the EV charging process, making it more accessible and secure for drivers globally. The joint solution enables EV drivers to locate, pay for parking, and charge their vehicles directly from their in-car media systems, eliminating the need for multiple apps or radio-frequency identification cards.
Nationwide Parking Services launched its custom-branded NWPRK parking app to offer parkers a seamless, convenient way to find, book, and pay for parking across Nationwide’s portfolio of parking facilities, which include properties in Downtown Denver, Littleton, Steamboat Springs, and Colorado Springs, Colo., and contracts at major airports including Denver International Airport (DEN) and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Developed in partnership with Get My Parking, the NWPRK app is now available for download on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
Unity5, a provider of software-as-a-service parking solutions, released Unity5 Bay Monitoring, a fully scalable product providing 24/7 real-time occupancy status and automated enforcement of various parking bay types, from EV charging points to permit-only spaces. Among its features, Unity5 Bay Monitoring offers live view monitoring, customizable camera options, and comprehensive ticket-management capabilities through the Zatpark platform.
Parking management solutions providers Parker Technology and Scheidt & Bachmann (S&B) launched their application programming interface (API) that provides users of Parker’s software platform access to relevant information in S&B’s system via its entervo parking management software. Customer service reps troubleshooting calls in the Parker Platform, from parking facilities with S&B equipment, will be able to resolve issues more efficiently. Parking operators utilizing Parker Technology and S&B will have greater visibility to data across both systems and could see increased revenue collection as a result, while end users accessing these facilities will benefit from a streamlined parking experience.
Valet Manager, which offers a cloud-based parking management platform that caters to all aspects of parking operations, has rebranded itself as Parking Base.
Sonny Samra assumed the role of Vice President of North America for Cleverciti, a provider of curb management and integrated parking intelligence solutions for both on-street and off-street operations. Most recently the Senior Director of Business Growth for PayByPhone, Samra replaces Andrew LaMothe.
WattEV, a developer of medium- and heavy-duty electric truck charging infrastructure to facilitate electric freight transport, opened its fourth electric truck charging depot. Located in Bakersfield, Calif., the depot is the world’s first electric truck stop featuring a solar-powered microgrid with a battery energy storage system and capable of megawatt rapid charging. The station includes 16 dual-cord 360-kW chargers connected to the grid and 15 single-cord 240-kW combined charging system chargers, plus three rapid 1,200-kW rapid megawatt charging system chargers, drawing power from the site’s solar array.
ParkMobile, a provider of smart parking and mobility solutions in North America and part of the EasyPark Group, has been named the official parking reservations provider for Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field, in Cleveland, Ohio, and Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park, in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Parking Logix, a maker of smart parking systems, and Modii, which offers digital infrastructure for parking and mobility management, formed a strategic partnership to provide drivers with omni-channel access to live parking availability and provide administrators with comprehensive parking data to inform their operations.
Councilmembers for the City of San Diego, Calif., awarded a contract to True Upside Consulting LLC to add hundreds of new EV charging stations at public facilities throughout the city within the next two years. Under the terms of the contract, True Upside will pay the city for use of the public property and will own and operate all the chargers on city parking lots. The program lays out a process for the city to buy out the installed infrastructure with revenue collected during the course of the 10-year contract, not to exceed $60 million.
Penn State University Transportation Services launched a real-time, parking-deck capacity tracking website to provide information for visitors and non-deck permit holders about the availability of visitor parking at four campus parking decks. The website uses one of three “faces” to indicate parking availability: a green smiley face for good parking availability, a yellow straight-line face for fair parking availability, and a red frowny face for poor parking availability.
HONK, a provider of contactless payments for parking, unveiled a new all-in-one validation platform that provides parking operators and asset owners with a single digital interface to manage all their validation and parking fees.
Three Georgia-based solar companies — Quest Renewables, Radiance Solar, and Qcells — joined together to design, build, and construct an innovative solar array atop the parking deck at the Atlanta, Ga., headquarters of Georgia Power, the largest electric subsidiary of the energy company Southern Company. Spanning the top level of the parking deck, the 200-kW Georgia Power Solar Carport will produce an estimated 411 MWh of electricity in its first year and partially offset the energy usage of the Georgia Power Headquarters campus.
ChargePoint, a provider of networked charging solutions for EVs, announced enhancements to its software offering that enable electric and mixed-fuel fleets to find, use, and pay for charging from a single application, including seamless driver reimbursement when they charge their company EV at home. The software includes a comprehensive portfolio of solutions that enable fleet operators to gain enhanced insight and metrics into driver performance, including preferred pricing, proactive monitoring, and reporting. Comprehensive reports on charging activity, energy usage, and costs help fleet operators identify opportunities for efficiency based on when and where their drivers charge.
