SpotHero is gearing up for a future that includes autonomous vehicles by giving their parking facilities the tools they need to accommodate them.
SpotHero, a Chicago-based tech company that helps drivers find convenient and affordable parking spaces in urban environments, announced on Tuesday that it has outfitted 500 of its Chicago parking facilities with new tech that caters to the needs of driverless cars.
The tech upgrades include license plate recognition, IoT sensors and other capabilities that allow the vehicles to book, pay, enter and exit a parking facility all on their own.
“SpotHero is prepared for autonomous vehicles to arrive on city streets—and in parking facilities,” said Mark Lawrence, the CEO and co-founder of SpotHero, in a statement. “By pairing existing physical infrastructure of parking facilities with our digital infrastructure, these AV-ready garages offer a real-world glimpse of what the parking future looks like for urban mobility.”
The City of Chicago has been slower than other municipalities to introduce and test autonomous vehicle innovation on city streets. As a result, many of Chicago’s local startups and tech companies have taken it upon themselves to encourage the introduction of driverless technology in the city, and SpotHero’s latest announcement is an extension of that trend.
SpotHero’s upgraded facilities are powered by the tech company’s HeroConnect platform, a parking API and SDK that functions as the bridge between all the players involved. It allows drivers, vehicles, garages, car manufacturers and cities to communicate, and exchange data and payments. This tech is what SpotHero says will empower autonomous vehicles to park at a facility seamlessly.
This latest announcement is in line with other recent moves SpotHero has made to further position itself as a thought-leader within the automative industry, and not just as a support app and service. Last year, the company opened a Detroit office to be closer to its partners in the automotive industry.
Launched in 2011, SpotHero has grown to be one of the most notable tech companies in Chicago, employing 219 people. They have more than 5,000 parking facilities across 50 major metro areas, and more than 1 million parking spaces are booked every month using their platform, according to the company.
