A Chore No More?

The Detroit Smart Parking Lab opens to develop and test emerging parking technology in real-world settings.

The state of Michigan, Ford, Bosch and real-estate company Bedrock announced last week their collaboration for the Detroit Smart Parking Lab (DSPL), claimed to be the first real-world test site for advanced parking technology. The DSPL will open in September 2021 in a Bedrock-owned parking garage in Detroit that also hosted a valet-parking demonstration project (https://www.sae.org/news/2020/08/ford-bosch-automated-parking-in-detroit) initiated by Ford and Bosch in August, 2020.

The DSPL project, announced by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, is intended to facilitate smart-infrastructure and mobility companies and startups in development of “parking-related mobility, logistics and electric vehicle charging technologies,” according to the DSPL. Michigan will encourage work with the DSPL, said Whitmer, through Michigan Mobility Funding Program grants administered by its Michigan Economic Development Corp. and Office of Future Mobility and Electrification. One of the early awardees of a grant is vehicle-rental agency Enterprise, which intends to use the DSPL to test automated valet parking and electric vehicle (EV) charging to improve vehicle quick-turnaround strategies.