Pittsburgh firm wants parking fees for driverless cars
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Driverless cars could soon be paying for parking like the rest of us.
Why it matters: Cities are missing out on $20 million in parking revenue — and potentially half a billion dollars in five years — because autonomous vehicles aren't paying for parking, Meter Feeder CEO Jim Gibbs tells Axios.
- That's according to an estimated 600,000 annual trips made by autonomous vehicle companies such as Waymo and factoring in their expected expansion in the coming years, says Gibbs.
Driving the news: Pittsburgh-based app Meter Feeder executed a machine-to-machine parking transaction for a Mapless AI autonomous vehicle in April, according to Gibbs.
What they're saying: Gibbs says getting all AVs to pay for parking would not only benefit cash-strapped cities, but would also help AVs get off the road and avoid awkward situations.
- "This is the first time in my life that cities have been inbound and proactively reaching out to us to see how we can deploy this in their cities," he says.
- "Not using available parking is how you get situations like Atlanta, where AVs are just circling in a cul-de-sac for hours."
How it works: Meter Feeder integrated its software into Mapless AI technology.
- When the vehicles are shifted into park, they send Meter Feeder their location and license plate.
- The app then automatically facilitates a 15-minute charge with the Pittsburgh Parking Authority, continuously charging Mapless AI automatically if the car is parked for longer than 15 minutes.
By the numbers: Waymo accrued 589 parking tickets in San Francisco — totaling $65,065 in fines — and another 75 tickets in Los Angeles in 2024, according to the Washington Post.
State of play: Waymo vehicles in California are driving without passengers about 44% of their total miles, according to data from the California Public Utilities Commission.
- Waymo is testing a snooze fee that riders can pay $2.50 to delay pickup by a couple of minutes.
- Gibbs said AVs should be parking more often in those instances so municipalities can capture some of that money.
What's next: Meter Feeder is looking to expand automatic AV parking to other cities where Mapless AI operates, but no final decisions have been made, says Gibbs.