Prague and Madrid – 12 January marked the kick-off of ParkedByMe, a groundbreaking one-year project poised to transform the micromobility landscape. Developed in collaboration with a consortium of innovative partners, ParkedByMe aims to pioneer centimetre-precise parking solutions for shared bicycles, e-bikes, and e-scooters within designated urban areas. This project is supported by EIT Urban Mobility, an initiative of the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union.
Image 1 The technology enables precise parking of the micro-mobility vehicles in the designated areas
Objectives and Goals
- Provide an innovative solution for centimetre-precise parking of shared micro-mobility vehicles.
- Deliver exceptional value to urban inhabitants, micromobility users, and city authorities.
- Validate the effectiveness of solutions through extensive testing in Madrid and Prague.
Project Partners
- PowerHUB (CZ): A technology transfer organization specialized in mobility.
- FACTUAL (ES): A foresight innovation & strategy firm committed to transforming mobility.
- SparkPark (NO): Experts with a patented digital parking system for micromobility vehicles.
- City of Madrid: The vibrant capital of Spain is known for its rich cultural heritage and forward-thinking urban initiatives.
- Prague 7: An eclectic district in the heart of Prague, characterized by innovation, sustainable living, and a dynamic urban lifestyle.
Project Details
ParkedByMe is a one-year project that leverages state-of-the-art Bluetooth sensors (patents approved in Norway) to deliver centimetre-precise parking for micro mobility vehicles. The project will expand parking spaces up to 12 meters wide and develop algorithms for precise positioning and direction detection of BLE-Tags. The testing phase will occur in Prague and Madrid.
Kick-off Meeting
The project’s kick-off meeting, scheduled for January 12, 2024, marked the beginning of a collaborative effort to bring this innovative parking solution to life. The event hosted EIT Urban Mobility representatives, the founders of the technological startup SparkPark, the representatives of Madrid and Prague 7, as well as the project managers of partner organization FACTUAL, responsible for pilot implementation in Madrid and PowerHUB – the project coordinator.
Project Significance
ParkedByMe will enable further analysis of the utilization and parking patterns of shared micromobility vehicles, deployment of smarter parking zones (geofences), and increased efficiency in micromobility parking, thereby reducing the clutter of wrongly parked bicycles and e-scooters.
“ParkedByMe is not just a project; it’s a commitment to revolutionize the way we park micromobility vehicles in urban areas. The parking infrastructure is a tool for the cities to reduce pollution, by making fundaments for the micromobility to grow; and, at the same time, keep all users of public areas safe.” – CEO, Igor Pancevski, SparkPark
Image 2 – The project will enable decluttering the streets of wrongly parked micro-mobility vehicles
Micromobility trends
The project addresses challenges such as the surge in micro-mobility usage, the lack of a systematic approach to micromobility, and overcrowded parking areas. These challenges are driven by increased citizen willingness (70%) and investment in micromobility.
Timeline
The one-year project will advance the technology and launch it for testing in one-month pilots in each city. In cooperation with local municipalities and micromobility service providers, we will deploy 25 sensors to test the difference between SparkPark sensors and GPS.
For more information, please contact: Marie Horniecka, marie@powerhub.cz
About EIT Urban Mobility
ParkedByMe is a project under the support of EIT Urban Mobility.
EIT Urban Mobility, an initiative of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European
Union, aims to accelerate solutions and the transition towards a user-centric, integrated and truly multimodal transport
system. As the leading European innovation community for urban mobility, EIT Urban Mobility works to avoid
fragmentation by facilitating collaboration between cities, industry, academia, research and innovation to solve the most
pressing mobility challenges of cities. Using cities as living labs, its industry, research and university partners will
demonstrate how new technologies can work to solve real problems in real cities by transporting people, goods and waste
in smarter ways.
About PowerHUB
PowerHUB is a technology transfer organization focused on innovation and research. Since 2017, we have sought to make
the world more sustainable, equitable, and connected by helping big ideas become a reality. We create sustainable
ecosystems using innovative digital technologies, supporting startups and organizations. We are a founding member of
EIT Urban Mobility and we are actively involved in the EIT Raw Materials and InnoEnergy communities.
