Automated Parking Systems A Growing Market In India

AutoPass India Ltd has introduced an exclusive ultrasonic state-of-the-art Parking Guidance System which helps motorists find the closest available parking from almost any location in a parking lot. Ajay Khanna, its Director for Sales & Marketing, speaks with TrafficInfraTech.

How do your products improve parking management?

There are a few things which a driver looks for in a parking lot: Easy and hassle-free entry, ease of locating a parking space, and an equally easy exit. Similarly, a parking lot owner seeks customer satisfaction, healthy returns & tight control of cash, and detailed Management Information System (MIS) for review and promotions. To address these points and keeping in view the Indian conditions, AutoPass India and its technology partners have developed automated parking systems. The system provides the latest smart card based technology for quick entry and exit, does away with the problem of queuing, gives excellent revenue control and a detailed MIS which leads to customer satisfaction for both the driver and the parking lot owner. One of the main advantages is that due to quick clearance of vehicles at the point of entry, traffic jams on the road leading to the building are avoided, thus ensuring better traffic flow and congestion-free main roads.

What are the unique features of your Parking Guidance System?

AutoPass India, along with its partner Singapore Technologies, has introduced an exclusive ultrasonic state-of-the-art Parking Guidance System which helps motorists find the closest available parking from almost any location in a parking lot. The system is modular and fully computerised and has many fail-safe in-built measures. It is one of the most advanced and user-friendly Parking Guidance Systems in the world today with many installations across Australia, South East Asia and the Middle East.

What is your view on intelligent parking management systems in the country?

Till the last decade, parking facilities in India were very poor. Parking contractors provided very few facilities to vehicle owners, triple parking was common, vehicles often got damaged, and things were often stolen from the vehicles. With improving economic conditions, people began to buy better and expensive vehicles which they were naturally keen to protect. They began to avoid unorganised parking lots and started looking for proper and secured parking facilities. The growth of automated and intelligent parking systems was a natural result of this change of conditions in the country. Malls were among the first to start setting up such organised automated parking systems.

The promoters of AutoPass India spotted this opportunity early and promoted AutoPass India to provide equipment, accessories and consultancy in this sector. AutoPass India is supported in its efforts by its technology partner Singapore Technologies Electronics Ltd, Singapore which has a special division dealing with Parking and Vehicle Access Control. AutoPass also has a strategic tie-up with Delopt, Bangalore, which has customised Parking Management Revenue Systems to suit Indian conditions. Some of the organisations that have bought Parking Guidance Systems from AutoPass include Palika Parking and Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi and Great India Place in Noida. I would say that malls, airports, multiplexes, metro train stations and bus stations are the main customers of automated parking systems.