Published in News

Acer unveils smart roadside parking management system

by on24 February 2017


Drivers spend an average of 20 minutes searching for metered parking


During last year’s Mobile World Congress, Acer made headlines when it announced a venture into the automotive industry with products to update in-dash console software and avoid collisions.

This year, in collaboration with the Tainan City Government and Tainan University of Technology, the company is now demonstrating a smart roadside parking management system that reduces the time drivers will spend searching for metered parking spots throughout the southern Taiwan city.

The management system allows drivers to search for real-time roadside parking availability on their smartphones in the form of smart parking meters that are placed around the city with automatic recognition of license plate numbers. The mobile application system makes the process of paying for timed parking at roadside spots – and paying for tickets from expired time allotments – much more efficient through the use of big data analysis.

While the system is good for drivers on the one hand, the local city government now has a more effective way of monitoring roadside parking spaces and ensuring that each expired space receives proper ticketing adjustments based on demand for spaces. Acer President Ben Wan says the company is in discussions with the Taipei City Government for adoption of the system and hopes to promote it in other Taiwanese cities in the near future.

According to the latest surveys from the partnering groups, drivers spend an average of 20 minutes finding metered parking spaces, while the total number of vehicles looking for parking spaces accounts for around 30 percent of all traffic flow.

Acer to regain sluggish PC sales with involvement in automotive business

Last year during Mobile World Congress, Acer announced its intentions to enter the automotive business as a way to compensate for a sluggish PC industry. Some of the first products on demonstration included a headset that monitors brainwaves for driver fatigue, along with a telematics product to track vehicle movements and keep in-vehicle dashboard systems up to date.

The brainwave-utilizing headset operates similarly to many electroencephalogram (EEG) devices by processing mental state fluctuations with algorithms that can detect fatigue and alert a driver to any pending environmental or vehicle operating dangers. Acer’s alliance partner Alchemy says the headset is paired to a smartphone app that can also analyze learning, emotional, stress and focus levels for real-time monitoring and feedback.

Acer’s telematics product, in partnership with Advanced Telematic Systems (ATS), was an open-standards solution called OTA+ that that would enable a more unified, over-the-air update platform for LTE connected vehicles. With OTA updates quickly becoming a mandatory feature for connected cars, the solution was created to optimize speed, security scalability and validation of updates being transmitted remotely to fleets of vehicles. The software was based on specifications recommended by GENIVI, an industry consortium that includes some of the automotive industry’s top brands and manufacturers.

Last modified on 24 February 2017
Rate this item
(0 votes)

Read more about: