Worldsensing brings catalan tech to moscow car parking

The barcelona company worldsensing has installed 12,000 sensors in moscow streets providing a constant flow of information to drivers about available parking spaces via the system fastprk. thanks to this technology, developed in collaboration with the russian firm its, the russian capital has become the world leader in urban parking solutions, ahead of other cities such as san francisco, los angeles or nice. 

the system, developed by worldsensing, headed by ignasi vilajosana, is similar to the lights that signal free spaces in shopping centre car-parks, but located on city streets themselves. when a vehicle occupies a parking space, a device on the ground detects the car’s presence and sends the information to the control centre. drivers can then receive information about free spaces on their smartphones or through signposting located on the city’s main streets. 

worldsensing’s competitive difference compared to other sensors on the market lies in its offer of a complete all-round system that improves management of public parking space: a system that helps both customers and controllers of public road systems (city councils and concessionary companies). the time saved (varying from 5 to 7 minutes) helps reduce traffic congestion, fuel consumption and pollution. furthermore, the new system means overall running of a city’s parking spaces can be improved, thus increasing income from parking space usage.