CleanTech: Serbian Startup Harnesses IoT, AI to Reduce Air Pollution Through Innovative Parking System
Have you ever thought about how much gas you spend every year looking for a place to park? Apart from wasting time and money, you are also polluting the environment by producing more greenhouse gas emissions. A Serbian startup has come up with an innovative solution to this problem.
nanobile, set up in Novi Sad in January 2019, is an IoT parking and traffic management system for modern and bustling cities, according to the company’s website. Their ParkSpot.me solution enables a real-time overview of traffic and parking usage by utilizing a network of sensor arrays, gateways, and phones used by drivers to locate parking. Basically, users of the app can quickly and safely navigate large number of public parking spots, and reserve them with ease, avoiding lengthy circling and browsing for empty spots.
630 l of gas a year to find parking spots
nanobile’s team led by Bogdan Ciric have calculated that frequent drivers can spend up to 630 litres of gas a year just looking for a place to park. This results in 1,500 kg of carbon dioxide emissions with the figure going up to 1,660 kg for diesel engines. To put this into perspective, 1 kg of carbon dioxide is equal to two bathtubs.
“Of course, we can’t guarantee that we will be able to cut this amount down to zero, but we hope that we can reduce it by 20, 30 up to 40%, which is quite a lot,” Ciric said in an interview with Klima101.
IoT & AI for public and private parking lots
“nanobile has developed an integrated an IoT solution using AI, combining hardware and software. Hardware (the parking sensors or poles) is integrated into the parking spaces, and the software comes in the form of an app that allows drivers to spot the vacant parking spaces and gives them an option to book and pay in advance. It also provides information about the overall traffic situation,” Bogdan explained.
The guys at nanobile want to launch their service in public parking lots first as their main goal is to help reduce air pollution in big cities. However, their product is also suitable for private parking spaces, business buildings, shopping centres, and airports.
Components made of recycled plastics
The components used in nanobile’s hardware are made of recycled plastic composites produced in collaboration with Zrenjanin’s Eko Stroj company. The startup plans to expand this collaboration in the future and start using recycled glass, recycled appliances and probably recycled batteries as well.
Future plans
nanobile has already completed its final prototype and is in an early production phase. If all goes well, the team is hoping to see their solution implemented in several cities in Serbia by mid-2021. Their target markets are the Balkans, but also the EU, with Slovenia coming first on the list.
