Sidewalk Labs, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google, is trying to put its best foot forward to change public parking and transportation in American cities. Under the service being dubbed “new superpowers to extend access and mobility,” Google is looking into the future. There it is introducing a technology that will enhance life improvement for everyone.
Information from reliable sources indicates that its first move is to do away with the subsidized travel for low-income workers. Discounted travel will take effect on ride-shared services the likes of Uber. In this case, a lot of traditional public transport services will be eliminated.
At this point the need to use the Flow cloud software becomes apparent. The use of Flow enhances Google’s expertise in mapping. Hence it will come in handy in traffic management. It will be more or less like using Google’s Street View cars all in the name of giving a new look to the parking systems.
The city of Columbus, Ohio which is the 15th largest town in the US will receive free access to Flow. The City won the $140 million in the recent “SmartCity” challenge prepared by the US Department of Transportation. However, word has it that to be fully ready for the technology Columbus may have to part with a huge sum of money.
Some of the transit information that Flow user will get includes duration, distance, and price of their ride. It is all about redefining the public transport, a move that is expected to benefit more than 90,000 low-income transit users
The sidewalk is also proposing a “virtualized parking” feature that will allow temporarily rent of private parking spaces which are more often than not reserved for shoppers. The demand for the empty slots would determine their cost.
Nevertheless, more scrutiny is required into this project but even then Anand Babu, COO of Sidewalk Labs they are optimistic that all will end up well. Babu describes their partnership with Transportation for America and cities across the country as the best thing ever since it will help drive the dialogue home.
