Realising smart parking with Bosch’s Azure-based solution

Realising smart parking with Bosch’s Azure-based solution

Cloud and IoT technologies can help to reduce inner-city traffic and minimise exhaust emissions

Elly Yates-Roberts |


Stationary traffic poses numerous challenges for cities and parking space operators. For example, drivers searching for parking spaces and the associated vehicle emissions. The Parking Lot Sensor (PLS) from Bosch enables cities and parking lot operators to efficiently manage available parking spaces and contribute to the reduction of noise and emissions. The solution also gives residents and visitors the ability to locate available parking spaces. 

The PLS reduces costs, increases fee income and forms the basis for innovative service offerings for the population and economy in any smart city. It is a simple, retrofit solution for parking in indoor and outdoor parking spaces that can be installed in just a few minutes. It is equipped with an intelligent, self-learning algorithm, which removes the need for manual, time-consuming teach-in and ensures up to 96 per cent accuracy. In addition, the PLS can be operated maintenance­free with a battery life of up to five years. 

As an internet-of-things parking solution, the PLS uses the standard LoRaWAN protocol for wireless communication and cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure for data visualisation, making it ideally suited as a component for any smart city project.

The search for a parking space can take the average driver around 20 minutes. By using the PLS, this time can be reduced by up to 35 per cent – which means 35 per cent less inner-city traffic and 35 per cent fewer emissions as people search for parking spaces. The PLS detects and reports the occupancy of parking spaces and thus enables active parking space management using functions such as search, navigation and reservation.

To prevent unauthorised parking, for example exceeding the maximum parking time allowed or using closed areas such as fire brigade access roads, the PLS allows for a much more targeted deployment of public order staff and a significant increase in productivity; the solution can be used in conjunction with other smart map applications to show all parking offenders in real time. Compliance with the respective regulations for loading zones and short-term parking spaces can also be efficiently monitored in this way – a business case that can quickly pay for itself.

The monitoring of e-charging stations has proven to be another useful application of the solution. These stations are often mistaken for normal parking spaces and thus fail to fulfil their more sustainable purpose. 

Isabel Lang is a marketing specialist at Bosch Connected Devices and Solutions

This article was originally published in the Autumn 2020 issue of The Record. To get future issues delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for a free subscription.

Subscribe to the Technology Record newsletter


  • ©2024 Tudor Rose. All Rights Reserved. Technology Record is published by Tudor Rose with the support and guidance of Microsoft.