with the rapid increase in the number of automobiles, traffic congestion in urban areas has become a global problem, and one of the major factors contributing to this is illegal parking. to address this issue, the city of heidelberg in germany recently introduced the "ai parking detective" system onto the streets. this system utilizes artificial intelligence (ai) and sensor technology to revolutionize parking enforcement.
the cityscanner, installed in a specially designed small vehicle, is equipped with three core technology modules: a high-resolution camera, a lidar (light detection and ranging) sensor, and a millimeter-wave radar.
1. the hd camera mounted on the roof can capture 25 frames per second, and combined with ai algorithms, it recognizes license plates, including eu standard license plates and special characters, with 99.7% accuracy.
2. the lidar sensor detects the vehicle's position with an accuracy of 0.5 meters and determines whether it is driving in restricted areas such as bicycle lanes and fire lanes, or exceeding the boundaries of parking spaces.
3. the millimeter-wave radar detects the vehicle's movement, distinguishes between temporary and long-term parking, and prevents misidentifications.
additionally, it connects in real time to the municipal parking database to check whether the vehicle has a resident parking permit, a time-limited parking ticket, or a special access right (such as a disabled parking space).
furthermore, it collaborates with mainstream digital parking apps like easypark and parkster to automatically verify electronic parking tickets issued by the app, enabling "zero fines" enforcement.
by patrolling the same area twice within a few minutes and using time stamps and location information to identify habitual violations, it minimizes the confusion caused by temporary parking.
the "ai parking inspector" can patrol 1,500 parked vehicles per hour, which is seven times more efficient than manual patrols. the daily patrol range corresponds to the workload of a traditional police officer over a week. the highly visible vehicle design (such as bright yellow body and warning lights) creates a psychological deterrent effect, reducing the illegal parking rate in the test area by 23%.
the hardware cost per vehicle (including cameras, lidar, and on-board computers) is approximately 130,000 euros, plus the cost of software licenses. installation takes only four hours, and the total cost can be reduced by 40% compared to traditional enforcement.
taking heidelberg as an example, it is expected that the system will increase fine revenue by 1.2 million euros annually after its implementation, and the investment will be recovered in 3 to 5 years.
