The most advanced of these has been set up in San Francisco, writes Brian Byrne, which has installed magnetic sensors under 8,200 street parking spaces.
Drivers can use their smartphones to find in real time vacant spaces, which saves time and frustration, the latter of which can lead to motorists becoming less safe and hitting pedestrians and cyclists or other road users in their search for space.
A €19.8 million grant from the US Department of Transportation was used to help set up the system, which will be extended to provide information on off-street parking.
Los Angeles is working to set up a similar system. Researchers in the city found that cars circling for just three minutes to find parking in a 15-block neighborhood totted up over 350,000 miles of excess driving every year.
