Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has launched the initial phase of its Smart Parking Project using systems supplied by leading Netherlands-based parking technology company Nedap.
The RTA is responsible for the planning and provision of all transport, roads and traffic in Dubai, the largest and most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Smart Parking Project was initiated as part of the authority’s efforts to provide smart services to the city’s 2.8 million residents and visitors, in line with the government’s ongoing ‘Smart Dubai’ initiative. The project offers a new service to drivers, with real-time information about the number of available parking spaces in controlled on- and off-street public parking areas is provided using dynamic message signs (DMS) and the RTA’s smartphone app.
The project has been implemented by Energy International Corporation, a Dubai-based systems integrator. The company has deployed approximately 2,000 Nedap smart parking sensors in the city’s Al-Rigga and the World Trade Center areas to provide real-time parking information. The wireless in-road sensors use combined magnetic and infrared dual-detection technology to provide accurate vehicle occupancy status and parking duration at individual spaces.
This real-time information is then transmitted to Nedap’s Sensit smart parking platform, which was implemented to provide the data that powers the RTA’s smartphone app, and also allows the payment of parking fees without additional charges for SMS text messaging. As well as the real-time occupancy information in the app, the Sensit platform also shows the number of available parking spaces displayed in Arabic and English on the RTA’s roadside DMS network.
“The RTA has completed the link of the central system with the basic components of the public parking project in Dubai, as well as at multi-level parking terminals and Dubai Mall car parking. Phase I of the link has been completed according to the planned timeline,” noted Maitha Mohammed Bin Adai, CEO of RTA’s Traffic and Roads Agency.
“The RTA has fully completed the project works at Al Rigga following the installation of about 2,000 smart parking sensors. The project is tailored to the needs of road users in view of the growing requirement of the public for using effective technological devices in dealing with the parking service. The project assists in providing information about the status of the parking slots to motorists before driving to those areas. It eliminates the traffic congestion resulting from the search for a parking slot.”
