Internet-connected cars

The first thing that comes to my mind when I think about the Internet of Things is the speech of Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford Motors Company, on TED from March 2011 where he talks about his vision of how technologies can reduce air pollution by minimizing traffic jams and time spent on finding parking spots. 

 Amongst different technologies he mentioned I would like to talk about two concepts that inspired me the most.

·         Smart Vehicle Network      Cars communicate to each other and the vehicle that hits a traffic jam sends signals to vehicles behind it so they can reroute before it’s too late.

                            

·         Smart Parking System    A network that connects parking slots and cars (or smartphones) and shows all free parking places in your neighborhood and you can book one in advance. 

 I tried to find if there has been any progress in the implementation of the above-mentioned concepts. Especially in the area of Smart Vehicle Network, that was being tested at the time. And indeed Ford Motors organized an event in June 2011 where it presented a demo version of the talking  car tech, but announced that technology will not be available for use untill 2016. But will other car manufacturers accept this standard if Ford can successfully implement the technology in its vehicles? Or each of them will try to create their own platform. Situation becomes more interesting because recently wireless carriers, such as Verizon and  AT&T, already started to invest in connected-car technologies. May be we will see new battle for the industry standard very soon.

I found a company that already offers a working Smart Parking System called FastPrk.  
Video: Smart Parking

And this system is already tested in Barcelona.  
Video: Barcelona Activa

The system works based on sensors embeded in each parking bay in the street. When a car is parking or leaving, information is being sent and updated in database (more details in the picture below) .

Those who drive in cities can't underestimate benefits of this system. Now it is turn of city municipalities and companies that operate paid parkings to make this a reality. Implementation of this kind of systems is benefitial for drivers because they waste less time on seeking parking spaces, for operators of parkings because they can increase utilization rates, and for whole population because of less air pollution.