After becoming frustrated by the lack of car parking spaces in Austria’s busy capital city, and further dismayed by the absence of available solutions, Find Your Gap founder and CEO Jürgen Ruprechter sought to change the way we seek, find, manage and use car parking spaces to better suit life in the modern smart city.
Gathering a team of entrepreneurs and technical experts, the nascent Find Your Gap team realised how knowledge and technology could contribute to more than merely finding a car parking space – they could change traffic flow in a city and thereby contribute to a more efficient economy whilst cutting fuel consumption and carbon emissions.
Dubbed ‘a universal system for smart parking solutions’, Ruprechter and his team sought advice from Vienna’s authorities and the European Commission, receiving funding and approval for their efforts. Thus, both the game and the goal were changed so that a functional and interactive digital compass could be created, helping to make modern city driving and car parking safer, smarter and more sustainable.
Smarter car parking, smarter cities
In this booklet, Ruprechter presents how the numerous benefits of technology and local knowledge come together to make modern urban transport better in many ways, including:
- Improved and increased transport choices;
- Reduced traffic congestion;
- Economic efficiency;
- Environmental and sustainability improvements;
- Less fuel and time consumption;
- Real-time information and high forecast accuracy; and
- High safety information availability.
All this and more is achieved through the use of specially developed sensors suspended on existing traffic infrastructure such as street lights, using bespoke solar panels designed to cope with the environmental stresses of a modern city. This also reduces the amount of downtime due to repairs and maintenance issues, thereby guaranteeing a more efficient and reliable service.
Find Your Gap here also showcases how through inspiration and innovation, coupled with local knowledge and foresight, technology continues to adapt to modern living, giving the user the advantage in potentially stressful and difficult situations such as car parking and commuting.
