Industry News
June, 2020
SemaConnect, a provider of electric vehicle charging stations in North America, announces the installation of 40 smart EV charging stations at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo. 24 of the stations are installed at the Main Campus in San Luis Obispo, and 16 stations are installed at the North Campus in Paso Robles. John “Randy” Schetky, the president and owner of Schetky Bus & Van Sales, one the United States’ largest dealerships, passed away on April 3, 2020. He was 69 years old. His sons David and Chase, both vice presidents for the company, will now take Randy’s years of guidance, advice, and leadership to lead the company going forward. Randy graduated from Oregon State University in 1975 and began working full time for his father, John L., at Schetky that same year. Randy grew the business from the top dealership in the Pacific Northwest, to one of the top bus and van suppliers nationwide.
Genetec Inc. announced that Firmware Vault, the industry’s first camera firmware update service developed by an open architecture VMS vendor, now supports cameras from Axis, Bosch, and Panasonic in addition to existing support for Hanwha Techwin cameras. Alchemco’s TechCrete 2500 Waterproofing Agent was voted Most Innovative Product in the Concrete Materials Category, at the 2020 World of Concrete Convention. The MIP2020 is the only annual award program honoring innovative new products designed for all segments of the concrete and masonry industries.
TagMaster, a supplier of advanced sensor systems for Smart Cities within Traffic and Rail, launches a new advanced RFID reader, XT-5, for identification in parking and access control solutions. “XT-5 is our most advanced integrated reader to date. It features a radio design with high output power, self-jammer cancellation (SJC) and control of the antenna polarization,” said Jonas Svensson, CEO, TagMaster.
AppyWay has appointed two new board members and one new advisor to provide the company with invaluable expertise across logistics, automotive and IoT. Their collective knowledge will further support AppyWay’s mission to empower cities with a data driven platform that transforms the curb into an accessible commodity ready for the demands of future mobility.
DMP welcomes a new member to the East sales team – Dave Farquhar. Dave is stepping into the role of Dealer Development Manager for the New York Metro area and reports to Ken Nelson, DMP Director of Sales, East. As DDM, Dave will serve as the sales and support representative for DMP-authorized dealers in the city and suburbs of New York City, Long Island and the Mid and Lower Hudson Valley. Westward Industries is now the first manufacturer of parking-specific vehicles to offer custom dashboard features turning your dash into a workstation. Developed specifically to incorporate license-plate recognition technologies, these features are designed to enhance the experience of parking enforcement officers.
Lancashire County Council has switched to Videalert systems for the enforcement of bus lanes throughout the county. The decision to standardize on Videalert’s hosted CCTV enforcement platform was taken to provide the council with the ability to manage multiple contravention types using a single platform. Videalert has announced the appointment of Cara Morrison as Bid Solutions Manager. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, PayByPhone announced it will partner with World Central Kitchen to help support the non-profit’s COVID-19 initiative. The #ChefsForAmerica effort is now serving 100,000 meals every day across the United States. Founded by Chef José Andrés and his wife Patricia nearly a decade ago, World Central Kitchen and its partners are working to safely distribute individually packaged fresh meals in communities across the nation that need support.
Automotus is assisting MIT’s Senseable City Lab with the Curbs Project in Paris to ensure that residents will have easy access to urban amenities such as parks and street shops within walking distance or predominantly using active modes, such as bicycles and scooters, creating a more vibrant and accessible city. “Paris is on the forefront of the mobility movement, and we are thrilled to be playing an important role,” said Jordan Justus, CEO & founder of Automotus.
Mount Sinai Health System in New York City is perched at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. Mount Sinai’s employees are working more shifts and longer hours. Mount Sinai’s operations team partnered with Walker Consultants to secure additional employee parking options near multiple hospital and medical office sites in three NYC boroughs.
Australian artificial intelligence solutions provider, SenSen Networks Ltd has announced it has been awarded a ~USD$1.5M tender with the City of Las Vegas to provide a range of intelligent transportation and smart city solutions. The agreement will support the City of Las Vegas’ goal to become a true Smart City by 2025. ElectraMeccanica Vehicles Corp., a designer and manufacturer of electric vehicles, has announced the engineering and development of a new, cost-effective aluminum chassis for the company’s flagship, single-occupant SOLO electric vehicle. The company has also extended and expanded its agreement with Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield. Based on the initial success, ElectraMeccanica will extend the lease on its current SOLOEV storefront located at Westfield Century City in Los Angeles. In addition, ElectraMeccanica will open a second SOLO EV storefront in the second half of 2020 at Westfield Fashion Square, a premier shopping center in Sherman Oaks, California.
Westfalia Technologies, Inc., a manufacturer of automated parking systems, announces a temporary adjustment to its free Lunch and Learn program. Instead of in-person sessions, Robert Sushinski, Business Development Associate, will now host a 45-minute live webinar to those who are interested in expanding their knowledge of automated parking systems. The online Lunch and Learn sessions will take place every other Thursday at 10 a.m. ET.
ParkHelp and Parking Sense, providers of parking guidance solutions, recently announced the merger of the two companies to create the world’s leading provider of parking sensors and guidance systems for indoor and outdoor parking lots and structures. The new company, ParkHelp Technologies, has significantly expanded its reach and product lines.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, CurbTrac, a technology innovator in the parking and mobility industries, announced the launch of the Clean Driver Program in partnership with Grubhub and the Philadelphia Parking Authority. As part of the program, personal protective equipment (PPE) distribution will be available in Philadelphia to start with the ability to potentially expand across additional markets next month.
Barnacle Parking Enforcement has integrated their Enterprise Management System with T2 Systems’ Flex Enforcement Solution. The new integration will support mutual customers, including Lexington and Fayette County Parking Authority, Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Houston, Howard University and others. The Barnacle and T2 integration allows Parking Enforcement Officers to deploy devices in the Barnacle Enforcer application, with citations automatically queried from the T2 Flex portal.
Nedap is excited to share the upcoming OSDP upgrade within Nedap’s long-range RFID reader portfolio for automatic vehicle identification. Over the last few years, an increasing number of access control panel manufacturers is supporting OSDP technology and this upgrade enables seamless integration supported by a highly secured communication standard.
SKIDATA has named Matt Gambardella to oversee sales for the company’s Denver office. In his new role, Gambardella will manage all new business development and project management throughout Colorado. He joins the Denver office from SKIDATA’s Las Vegas office.
Municipal Parking Services, Inc. announced the launch of the first and only automated system to help mitigate the asymptomatic spread of Covid-19 on private and public premises through the detection of elevated temperatures, audited hand sanitation and entry access control.
Together with founding members Millennium Garages, SP+, and Arrive, City Tech Collaborative is launching the new Millennium Gateway Innovation Lab, a cross-sector consortium to envision and implement technology-enabled solutions that will position parking facilities to address critical
urban challenges.
Advanced Parking Concepts Residential Food Delivery Assistance Program continues to roll. During this Covid-19 pandemic, APC’s dedicated staff is committed to keeping our clients safe. A special shout out to Tom Carter of the Toledo Ticket Company and John Van Horn of Parking Today Magazine, for repurposing & donating 1,000 premium shopping bags to our effort. And a special shout out to the leadership of Jose Torrealba for his role in covering the northern NJ area and Maritza Ibrahim, our Event Division Sales Coordinator, who has been a wizard in the creation of a help desk ensuring grocery pickups and deliveries.
Marking another Smart City expansion project, City Center, the new heart of downtown San Ramon has been chosen to deploy McCain, Inc.’s OPTIPARK® Parking Guidance System (PGS) to improve the parking experience for the visiting public San Ramon, chooses OPTIPARK Parking Guidance and Wayfinding. McCain, Inc., a leader in the supply of intelligent transportation solutions for safety and mobility and a member of the global SWARCO family.
Park Assist has been awarded the Parking Guidance System (PGS) contract for Salmaniya Medical Complex’s new carpark development, located in the Salmaniya district of Manama in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Owned by Edamah (the Real Estate investment arm of the Bahrain Government) and operated by Bahrain Carparks, the facility will serve one of the largest and busiest hospitals in the country. Park Assist has also been awarded the Parking Guidance System (PGS) contract for Salt Lake City International Airport’s latest parking garage. SLC also chose to include a 3,600-space parking garage in the new development. Park Assist is excited to announce its new LCD-NAV signage solution. The LCD-NAV sign provides up-to-the-minute content updates to all customers and enhances the customer experience.
ParkHub, a B2B parking technology company, has launched online courses designed to support the professional advancement of parking attendants during the COVID-19 crisis. The curriculum, coined Attendant Academy, is free of cost and available to the public at large. Penn Parking, a Maryland-based parking management company, recently wrapped up the Herculean effort of handcrafting 3,300 PPE face shields for healthcare workers throughout Maryland, Virginia and DC area. Penn Parking CEO Lisa Renshaw stated, “We are on a mission to get our health care workers and first responders the vital equipment they need to keep them and the public safe.”
Tattile has concluded a common software development to fully integrate its Tattile Vega cameras with the Milestone XProtect Smart Client. The Tattile – XProtect Integration Plugin is a fully developed plugin to integrate the Tattile VEGA ANPR Cameras into Milestone XProtect enabling ITS operators to easily incorporate any number of VEGA cameras to automatically communicate with the Milestone VMS.
