For real estate developers, parking structures are often a necessary evil. They’re usually not pleasant to look at and they take valuable real estate space that could be used for something else. Perhaps worst of all, though, these structures represent significant liabilities for the owner. As essential as parking structures are for the success of a commercial property, they could be dangerous. Accidents can happen while drivers are circling for a parking space; thieves can break into cars while they are unattended; and people can be assaulted while walking to their cars alone late at night. Although there are many ways property owners can mitigate these risks, automated parking systems offer a solution to all of them.
By implementing automated parking solutions at a commercial or residential properties, developers and property owners can create parking that is much safer for their customers and reduce their liabilities.
A typical palletless automated multilevel car parking system works like this: The user accesses the garage via a transponder that sends a signal to a sensor on the outer doors to open and allow access to a transfer area. Once inside the secure transfer area, the user is guided into the correct parking position via instruction screen linked to numerous safety sensors in the transfer area. After the user has left the transfer area and the outer door is closed, their vehicle is collected from the transfer area by a Satellite® that will take the car to its parking space. When the user is ready to leave, he or she enters a secure code or swipes their key fob in the waiting area. This code activates the automated system to retrieve the vehicle from its secure parking space.
Safety Benefits You Can Expect With Automated Parking
Because the vehicle is transferred to a secure parking spot inside the garage, which is inaccessible to the general public, via a robotic car parking system, automated parking technology offers a significant number of advantages from a safety perspective:
- Less accidents: For example, in a typical parking structure, users must find their own parking spaces by driving through the structure. This creates the potential for accidents, because users may be distracted since they are looking for an open space. In an automated parking structure, however, cars are moved via a robotic system directly to the parking spaces, eliminating the need to drive around the structure to find one.
- Decreased chance of theft: An automated parking structure also helps eliminate the risk of theft. In a typical parking structure, vehicles are left unattended while the owner conducts his or her business inside. This places the vehicles at risk of being broken into — especially in dark or secluded areas of the garage. On the other hand, an automated parking system safely stores a vehicle in a parking spot that cannot be accessed by the general public or anyone else other than authorized personnel. Meaning, there is practically no opportunity for a thief to break into a car.
- Improved personal safety: Finally, because the car owner doesn’t have to walk directly to or from his or her car, automated parking systems offer much greater personal safety than traditional parking structures. The driver can wait for his or her car to be retrieved in a safe and secure transfer cabin. What’s more, because a transponder is needed to enter the garage doors, there’s an extremely low chance that any unauthorized person could enter the parking structure.
For these and many other reasons, automated parking systems mean greater safety for the public and fewer liabilities for developers or property owners. If you want to learn more about automated parking systems and how they can benefit your property, reach out to Westfalia Parking Solutions today.