ParkDepot - Optimizing Parking Lots With a Smart Camera System and AI

How would you describe your business idea to a potential investor?

AI-driven data analysis solution for parking lots including services such as automatic detection of parking offenders and renting out of unused space.

What problem do you want to solve, what is your goal?

Owners of publicly accessible commercial parking lots face the problem that they barely have any control over the situation of their lot. Gated parking might seem like a solution, but is, in reality, a huge cost factor and has a deterring impact on potential customers. On the other hand, leaving parking lots without any barriers attracts parking violators to leave their cars and block parking space needed for customers. We designed an automatic solution to keep parking lots available for customers and monetize unused space.

How did you come up with your idea/concept?

We observed that most of the current companies offering parking lot management rely on inspectors to check parking discs manually. Our research showed that more than 80% of the issued parking violations tickets aren’t due to excessive parking times but rather due to customers forgetting to set their parking discs. We wanted to build a solution that offers a fair and easy 24/7 protection for the lot owner with opportunities for additional analytics and monetization. Our AI-based algorithm for car detection out of free-flow traffic enables the best solution on the market.

What is your business model?

As a B2B company, our focus for commercialization lies in providing high-tech and low-invest traffic management solutions with a monthly fee to parking lot owners. Our revenue model consists of three major pillars. These are fixed monthly fees, data analysis fee as well as variable usage fees through rental. The fixed monthly fee covers all maintenance and customer support costs. The data-analysis we provide enables parking lot owners to have a new perspective on what is actually going on in their parking lots. The metrics of average usage, peak times, type of cars, the number of electric vehicles, etc. enable a smart consultation on how to optimize the use of valuable space. And last but not least, our technology enables flexible renting out of unused space.

What is your vision for a broader societal, economic, environmental or climate impact your solution can have?

The successful commercialization and implementation of our innovation can have a huge impact on all dimensions of society. First, societally, the efficient management of traffic and smart allocation of cars will reduce stressful traffic jams and time spent in cars and thus help to shape more harmony in society. Second, on an economic level, the increase in efficiency will help private households as well as businesses to focus more on what they really should do, rather than wasting their time and worries in an unnecessary way. The environment and climate will profit directly as well as indirectly as the cause of our innovation. Directly by providing a minimum hardware solution and thus through the avoidance of paper tickets, a large amount of hardware like a complicated gate or sensor solutions. Indirectly through the massive reduction of traffic by route optimization.

How large is the initial market you are tackling?

Our customers and target group include all parking lot owners. In Europe there are more than 840,000 private parking lots, assuming an average size of 80 spots per lot. The owners of these include retailers such as supermarkets, airports, shopping malls, gyms, sport facilities, hospitals, toll stations and many more.

Why did you decide to work with XPRENEURS?

We got many extremely positive references from other founders about their experiences with XPRENEURS as one of the leading accelerator programs in Germany. So far, we are very satisfied with the program including input sessions, retreats, mentoring and much more.

You can get more information about ParkDepot on their website or follow them on LinkedIn!