Atlanta, Georgia and Munich, Germany — 21st July 2022

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Cleverciti® announces the Circ® 360 Ultra and Circ® 360 Ultra+, the next generation of its flagship parking guidance product.

This newly updated version of the patented Circ builds on the success of the original with improved features, higher resolution, and more flexibility for customers.

Circ 360 Ultra+

By mounting a Circ 360 Ultra at intersections or decision points, drivers are guided turn-by-turn to available parking spaces— whether on-street, surface lot or a garage. Redwood City, California has a Circ at most intersections in its downtown core, as well as at each surface lot entrance.

Original Circ in Redwood City, providing guidance into a surface lot

“The Circ has allowed Redwood City to provide dynamic parking information to the public while maintaining a small, flexible, non-intrusive footprint. It allows parkers to get a real-time snapshot of the parking availability in an area, minimizing unneeded circling and reducing traffic congestion.”

— Christian Hammack, Redwood City's Parking Manager

The Circ 360 Ultra has a 50% higher resolution versus the original Circ, enabling richer graphics and greater clarity in communication to drivers. The display is available in single-height (Circ 360 Ultra) and double-height versions (Circ 360 Ultra+), allowing for additional messaging. With this real estate, clients can now use the Circ to communicate detailed information like bus or train arrival times, reinforce neighborhood branding, or sell advertising space to help fund parking operations.

Circ 360 Ultra+

Circ 360 Ultra

“We have already proven we can reduce parking search times by 45-55% through deploying the Circ for turn-by-turn parking guidance,” said David Parker, CEO of Cleverciti. “The Circ 360 Ultra brings our driver communication capabilities to the next level.”

The Circ 360 Ultra combines the above improvements with the best of the original Circ. Key features include:

• Unique, patented 360° display that provides real-time turn-by-turn guidance for drivers helping to reduce the time spent searching for parking, and in turn, emissions.

• 50% higher resolution.

• Two sizes (single and double height) for full flexibility of content displayed.

• Remotely managed & monitored 24/7, like all Cleverciti devices.

• Display parking occupancy data for spaces managed by the Cleverciti platform; option to pull data from any other source (such as train arrival times).

• Ability to change templates on-the-fly through the Cleverciti Cockpit to update the guidance plan as needed— such as for special events.

• Dimmable to ensure maximum readability while minimizing light pollution (Automatically or by schedule).

• Mounted onto and powered by existing infrastructure, facilitating easy installation whilst integrating seamlessly into the streetscape.

The Circ 360 Ultra will be demoed live next week (July 24-27) at IPMI, New Orleans at Cleverciti’s Booth— #720

Building upon the solid foundation established during his 3-year tenure as COO, Parker will lead Cleverciti as CEO.

Munich, Germany and Alpharetta, Georgia USA— July 15, 2022

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Cleverciti®, the leader in comprehensive, turn-by-turn parking guidance solutions both on-street and off-street, has promoted David Parker to Chief Executive Officer. Thomas Hohenacker, Cleverciti’s founder, will take a strategic role on the company’s board.

David Parker, CEO

For the past 3 years, Parker has been leading the sales & marketing teams of Cleverciti as COO. During this time, Cleverciti has scaled significantly, particularly in the US and Germany, adding flagship clients including Redwood City (in the heart of Silicon Valley) and El Monte (a suburb of Los Angeles) in the US, and Cologne, Düsseldorf, Paderborn, and Gelsenkirchen in Germany.

“When I joined Cleverciti three years ago, I knew this company was positioned to lead the industry in the adoption of smart parking and intelligent parking guidance,” said Parker. “We have now proven we can halve parking search time while growing parking revenues and delivering an extraordinary citizen experience. Our customers can achieve a financial ROI in less than two years. Today, leading cities around the world are choosing Cleverciti.”

Parker’s CEO succession was in the making for the past few years: “When I asked David to join Cleverciti, I did so with the plan that he would eventually succeed me as CEO,” said Hohenacker. “With the transition complete, now I am able to shift my focus to key strategic topics as a member of the board.”

“Thomas is a visionary entrepreneur, developing and implementing the patents, AI sensor and unique smart parking guidance systems that are the core of Cleverciti. He had the foresight that parking-as-we-know-it had to change by providing precise data for drivers to save them valuable time and by enabling a powerful parking management system for operators,” said Parker. “Today, we have the top team, industry-leading product, and confidence of a strong customer base to realize his vision at a global scale.”

Parker came to Cleverciti from Cox Automotive where he served as COO of Modix, the leading global automotive digital marketing solution. At Modix, he led the expansion of the business across more than 60 countries. Throughout his career, he has held senior-level roles and advisory positions with a wide range of high-growth tech businesses with successful exits, including Dealer.com (sold to Dealertrack), Dealertrack (Sold to Cox Automotive), and BentoBox (sold to Fiserv). He holds MBAs from Columbia University and London Business School and a B.S. in Information Technology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

The Cleverciti team is expanding. Meet: Andrew LaMothe. 

Andrew LaMothe is the newest Clever Citizen after joining Cleverciti as Senior Director of Enterprise Sales for North America. Prior to Cleverciti Andrew led Passport’s Enterprise Sales efforts on the West Coast after navigating the acquisition of NuPark by Passport in 2018. Prior to his time at Passport (NuPark), Andrew held executive-level sales roles at PayByPhone Technologies overseeing the West Region. Andrew has also had the honor of contributing to the National Parking Associations’ “40 under 40” as their first chairperson and a Board position for SWPTA. 

His combined experiences have given him an understanding of the role parking technology plays in the lives of people it touches and the value it creates for partners that adopt it. When asked “what is the highlight of your time in the parking industry prior to Cleverciti?” Andrew replied, “The highlight of my career has been the ability to form so many relationships. I’ve been on amazing teams at great companies which have allowed me to make connections and solve problems for people all over the world. I’m grateful to begin this next chapter with Cleverciti to share the most impactful technology I’ve seen to date.”

Cleverciti is excited to welcome Andrew on board and we wish him a great start in the team!

Want to find out more about Cleverciti’s smart parking solutions? Schedule a demo with one of our smart parking experts by clicking the button below.

Last Wednesday, on April 14th, our CEO Thomas Hohenacker & COO David Parker spoke Sofa Summits - Smart City Summit on:

"The Fastest Path to a 15-minute City. How Cologne Cut Parking Search by 45% to Minimise Congestion"

The talk, as part of the Sustainable Cities - Transportation and Mobility Track, was focused on one of the world’s most innovative and modern parking guidance systems for residents and visitors that was installed in the Cologne district of Nippes last year. The first results of the project have shown parking search time decrease by 45%.

We were joined by a long list of leading and innovative smart cities, such as the City of Rome, Hannover, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Zürich, Helsinki, Rotterdam, Göteborg, Dortmund, Winterthur, Lahti, Geneva, Dublin and Madrid, to name a few. 

During the event, several overall polls were released for all attendees to weigh in on - when asked what was the main goal for their smart city, 50% of the respondents answered with ‘sustainability’, 47.1% with ‘quality of life’ and 2.9% with ‘innovation’. 

We are happy to see major smart cities prioritizing sustainability and citizen quality of life — 2 facets we have seen improve quickly with the deployment of smart parking, like the case in Cologne.

We’d like to thank all attendees for joining and for their active participation, and for making the event successful. 

If you missed it, but would like to hear more about the installation in Cologne, please find the presentation deck or watch the live session recording below.

Read the slide deck that was used during the presentation:

Or watch the full recording:

This year’s edition of the world-renowned tourism fair ITB Berlin took place online from March 9th to March 12th. On March 10th, Cleverciti and the Tourism Association of the Lübeck Bay took the stage on Expo Stage 2 to talk about our successful project in one of Germany’s most touristic regions on the North Coast, where we tackled the high traffic increase in summer with an ingenious smart parking system that benefits both tourists and locals. The speaker panel consisted of Thomas Hohenacker, CEO and Founder at Cleverciti, David Parker, COO at Cleverciti and Paul Stellmacher, Deputy Board Member of Tourism Association “Lübecker Bucht”. 

“Successfully Managing Overtourism with an Award-Winning Parking Guidance solution”

As will be touched on later, this has turned out to be an exceptionally successful project for all parties involved. 

After short introductions, the speakers kicked off by briefly sharing the challenge at hand:

• Lübeck Bay is a top regional tourism destination, only 1 hour away from Hamburg

• It has 3 million annual visitors of which 1.5 million day visitors are drawn towards the beautiful beaches

• The area is filled with overcrowded hotspots with lead to massive congestion

• There is actually plenty of free parking space in lesser-known areas along the coast

• All of this was exacerbated by COVID as local tourism and social distancing became the number one priority. 

To solve these challenges, a traffic light system was deployed for the beaches and the surrounding parking areas, within an app called “Strandticker.de”. With Strandticker, visitors get steered to “green” areas and steered away from “red” and “yellow” areas. How? By showing a traffic light on a map of the tourism area. The data for the traffic lights come from beach occupancy sensors, installed at all entry points to the beaches, and parking occupancy sensors, installed at all parking areas along the beach. The acceptance of this app has been absolutely overwhelming! Since the launch in 2020, a staggering 400,000 unique users adopted the app with 4 million views within the app store. 

Reduce parking search

As for parking specifically, the main challenge in Lübeck Bay was to steer cars directly to the nearest and best parking space, instead of visitors driving to one of the most known parking areas, just to find there is no space anymore and then parking in illegal areas instead.

As said, this led to a simple “traffic light” system for both the beaches and the parking spots, where the visitors can see the exact occupancy status at a glance, quickly finding available parking and make better decisions on their way to the beach. The parking sensors are updated in near real-time which means that a few seconds after the car has parked, the sensor marks the spot as ‘taken’. 

Award-winning solution

This concept recently won two coveted Deutscher Tourismuspreis 2020 awards - 2nd Prize overall, and the People’s Choice Award. Reason enough for all parties involved to expand the system regionally! 

Future expansion

Next year, the system will be expanded to cover more locations within Scharbeutz and more cities throughout Lübeck Bay. In addition to that, more digital guidance will be added at key decision points to cover 100% of the driver experience in the area. And last but not least, the currently isolated data sources will be combined together to establish a predictive element: “If I leave Hamburg now, will there still be space in 1 hour?” Cleverciti is thrilled to partner with Lübeck Bay on this project and is looking forward to what is still to come.

After the audience learned a bit more about the project and its success, a few more questions came up in the Q&A section:

Why was parking guidance so important in solving the challenge at Lübeck Bay?

Though it is not often said, parking search actually is an immense cost to society, as is shown by these (rather shocking) numbers:

• 6.8 billion hours per year are wasted due to parking search, 

• 28 million metric tons CO2 is emitted per year (that’s 1.3 billion trees!) due to parking search,

• 132 billion dollars are lost per year and,

• 30% of all traffic is unnecessary*. 

*In the US, UK & Germany alone. 

Source: Innix Parking Pain Study & Donald Shoup: “The High Cost of Free Parking”

Why Cleverciti?

The next question was: why did the Tourism Association pick Cleverciti to handle their parking challenge? Cleverciti, as is illustrated by the case in Lübeck Bay, offers an accurate, real-time, per-space detection system in combination with turn-by-turn guidance to the nearest space. How? By using Cleverciti Sensors & Cleverciti Circ 360®. Each is easy to install and compatible with all public safety and privacy concerns as the sensors only transfer the GPS location of the cars. Also, both are installed on existing infrastructure, which reduces deployment costs. 

What is unique about Cleverciti’s parking guidance system?

What makes Cleverciti stand out among other suppliers, is our system combines all existing parking data, meaning, not only data from garages but also on-street and off-street parking. This is the key factor to reducing traffic & emissions. 

Where can you currently find Cleverciti’s parking guidance systems?

Cleverciti is operational in 20 countries around the world. Also in major tourism destinations: in the heart of Dubai, Banff Canada, and now also in Lübeck Bay to name a few. The sensors and digital signage have therefore proven themselves to perform equally well in all types of environments and weather conditions.

Wrapping up

After answering a few more questions from the audience, Mr. Stellmacher had one final thought he wanted to share with the audience:

“Visitor guidance systems using parking sensors; it’s very simple, they just work. It’s existing technology put together in a new way that is worth your consideration.”

Interested to learn more about the project in Lubeck Bay? Read our recently published case study going into detail on the project. 

Or watch the full ITB presentation below:

On March 16th, Cleverciti, Element Energy, Trojan Energy & British Parking Association co-hosted the webinar: “The road to electrification: how parking data can assist Local Authorities with electric transition and beyond.”

The speaker panel consisted of:

• Chris Heddle, Country Manager UK & Ireland at Cleverciti

• David Parker, COO at Cleverciti

• Sarah Clements, Senior Consultant at Element Energy

• Hugh Mackenzie, COO at Trojan Energy

• Julian O'Kelly, PhD, Head of Technology, Innovation and Research at the British Parking Association (BPA)

During the webinar, which was attended by 52 representatives of local authorities from the UK, Chris Heddle from Cleverciti took on the role of moderator and lead the conversation around the switch to electric vehicles in cities and how smart parking can help local authorities during the transition. After introducing all members of the speaker panel, Mr. O’Kelly was the first to kick off by directly addressing the topic at hand: the fact that the transport & mobility sector is not nearly as far advanced in terms of reducing carbon emissions as they should be, especially in these times of increased volumes of delivery services, such as Amazon. Electric Vehicles (EV) are, in the eyes of the BPA, a large part of the solution. That is why the BPA is working with the government to support a National Parking Platform; a publicly owned, national facility that enables Parking Operators (public or private) to communicate digitally with service providers, covering data like occupancy or payments & reservation information. Parking space, in the eyes of Mr. O’Kelly, should be approached in the future as mobility space. 

The next speaker, Ms. Clements from Element Energy, which is a consultancy that only works on low and zero-emission projects with local authorities (LA), gave an example of a project that they did to support LAs on their road to electrification: an analysis for the Birmingham city council to assess taxi demand to determine where charging points should be located. This is only one of the means of support that LAs can receive on their journey to electrification.

Mr. MacKenzie from Trojan Energy, the company that produces the Flat & Flush Connector, shared with the audience how their EV charging solution works. The connector is a charging point that is located a few centimeters from the edge of the curb and is hidden in the pavement. When a user accesses its personal lance, the charger rises and is ready for use. In addition to that, Trojan recently teamed up with Cleverciti, to tackle another challenge concerning on-street charging without EV-only bays: the blocking of parking spaces by non-EV vehicles. That is why they decided to install Cleverciti Sensors on lampposts along the street, that monitor every moment to see if a parking space is available. This data is used in an app for EV drivers, that shows them exactly which spaces are available in real-time, giving them a clear parking advantage over non-EV drivers.  

Last but not least, Mr. Heddle, on behalf of Cleverciti, shared how parking data can assist LAs with electrification and beyond. The parking pressure today is huge: 95% of the time a car is parked and 44 hours of time is wasted by people in search of a parking space. In addition to that, 1.3kg CO2 is emitted by parking search and 23.3 billion Pounds are lost due to parking search. As a result, 34% of the drivers will resort to negative behavior. Smart parking helps overcome this challenge, for example by applying Cleverciti’s sensor technology that monitors and stimulates compliance. By providing the Cleverciti App that can be integrated into payment or city apps, Cleverciti is aiming for maximum adoption by the local drivers, reducing traffic and emissions. 

It is safe to say that when you combine EV infrastructure with smart parking data, that is when the puzzle truly comes together. By combining both you can encourage correct use of space, incentivize EV drivers to vacate EV bays when fully charged, notify EV drivers of charging bays becoming available, etc.

Of course, this is not all that was talked about. Wish to find out more? The full recording of the event can be viewed below:

Wish to know more about smart parking and its role in the road to electrification? Schedule a demo with one of our smart parking experts by clicking the button below. 

On November 19th, 2020, Cleverciti & Itron came together during their latest webinar that was focused on the implementation of smart lampposts in smart city projects around the world. This virtual event, joined by a record number of attendees representing more than 12 countries, was moderated by Cleverciti’s very own Joe Survance, who leads the US organization. The speaker panel consisted of:

• Itai Dadon, Global Head of Smart Cities at Itron

• Thomas Hohenacker, CEO & Founder at Cleverciti

• David Parker, COO at Cleverciti

Joe Survance

Thomas Hohenacker

David Parker

Itai Dadon

Itron, an important Cleverciti partner, for the implementation of smart city projects around the world, is a global leader in the management of energy, water, and other utilities in cities. Mr. Dadon, Global Head of Smart Cities at Itron, started off by stressing how important smart cities really are for us. “They are entirely created for us, for the citizens that the cities serve. Cities are under tremendous pressure these days, and COVID is adding to that,” Mr. Dadon shared. Smart cities help to make the lives of their residents better. The challenges that cities face are global. There are 3 categories of challenges cities face:

• Environmental (lower emissions)

• Social (improve quality of life)

• Economic (increase compliance and revenue)

It is of great importance to both Itron & Cleverciti to contribute with their technologies to directly help solve these challenges. 

Next, Mr. Hohenacker brings the topic to lampposts and explains the vital role they play in smart city projects. “First of all, they are everywhere. There are over 30 million streetlights in the US alone. And they are of extraordinary importance as they ‘overlook’ very important assets.” 

Cleverciti was able to solve parking search in cities by utilizing lampposts in 2 steps:

1. Building an accurate data layer of the whole city to be able to say which spots are available and which are occupied (by using Cleverciti Sensors)

2. Creating guidance technology to bring you to the nearest available spot (by using Cleverciti Sign, Cleverciti Circ)

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: parking search is extremely costly to society. 30% of all traffic is search traffic. It is no surprise that cities these days are eager to solve this problem and lower the ‘cost’. Lampposts play a key role in solving parking issues in cities. 

Cleverciti moves on by sharing three real-life examples of implementation projects in which streetlights were key in the solution to smart parking:

• City of San Antonio (in close collaboration with Itron)

• City of Bad Hersfeld

• City of Cologne

Curious about these real-life examples and their smart parking solutions? 

Watch the full recording of the event here: 

The presentation that was shared during the event can be found here:

An overview recently presented by leading institutions in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) of all relevant tech start-ups whose solutions use artificial intelligence (AI) includes numerous pioneers in the field as well as the German leading smart parking startup Cleverciti.

Earlier this year, appliedAI (Germany), Ignite Sweden, AI Sweden and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden decided to come together to initiate a mapping of the current AI startup ecosystem in Europe. On November 17, 2020, during the virtual Sweden Innovation Days event the first version of the landscape was presented which includes over 500 deep tech startups from France, Germany, and Sweden, among which Cleverciti, as part of the subcategory of “Transport & Mobility”. Cleverciti applies AI extensively in its smart parking and smart mobility solutions.

The aim of the mapping is to shine a light on the top AI startups in Europe in order to drive AI adoption and create more partnership opportunities between startups and corporations. It was felt that once a centralized database of quality AI startups existed, corporations and SMEs would have easier access to AI partners they can trust.

The initiators of the mapping see great value in collaborations with AI startups in particular, simply because, while almost all companies require a broad selection of AI solutions, startups tend to focus on one specific niche, which can be the exact niche that the corporations are looking for. Secondly, AI systems increase in performance with more data and applications. Therefore, in non-competitive use cases, a technology from a startup that supplies many companies tends to perform better than a stand-alone solution for one specific application in one company. With AI being one of the most rapidly changing development fields, partnering up with startups allows companies to focus on value creation.

The first version of the European AI Startups landscape is subdivided into the following subcategories:

• Cross-industry startups

• Information technology & services

• Health and pharma

• Retail & commerce

• Enterprise software

• Transport & mobility

• Manufacturing

• Consulting

• Finance & insurance

• Agriculture, forestry & fishing

• Administrative & support services

• Energy

• Autonomous systems

• Language & communication

• Media & publishing

• Arts, entertainment & recreation

• Logistics

• Legal

• Public administration, defense, aerospace & social security

• Fashion

• Water, waste & environment

• Construction

• Education

• Real estate activities

• Mining & quarrying

Other German deep tech startups that are included in the “Transport & Mobility” subcategory are:

• Konux, the leading German AI/IoT startup providing smart sensor systems and AI-based analytics to deliver actionable insights and enable predictive maintenance,

• Lilium, a Munich-based startup working towards developing an all-electric jet with VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) capabilities,

• German Autolabs, a pioneer in automotive voice AI. 

Click below to see the full landscape. 

Munich, Germany - Welcome to our brand new Resource Library! As this section didn’t exist before on the old Cleverciti website, so we’ll take a moment to introduce it properly. 

The Resource Library is designed entirely for you, whether you’re a one-time visitor that’s simply interested in one of our topics, whether you are an existing customer looking for some tips on the use of our products, or whether you are a city representative exploring the possibilities of having smart parking solutions in your city. 

In the Resource Library you will find the latest news on our products or new installations, you will find informative blog articles on the topics of smart city, smart parking and smart tourism, we discuss the latest trends in the industry as well as specific use cases we’ve had with our customers and you’ll find some stories from our very own (leadership) team members.

Additionally we keep an up-to-date list of our upcoming events as well as a list of applications we integrate well with, such as Cisco, Innogy, Google Maps & Waze. 

Of course, our FAQs cannot be missed in our Resource Library. And last but not least, in our Resource Library you can view Cleverciti’s presence in the media. Follow the links to the original sources and read the articles or watch the videos in which Cleverciti was featured. 

Overall, the goal of the Resource Library is to give you a well-rounded view of Cleverciti, its products, how they can be utilized best, to whom they could be relevant, what the benefits of smart parking solutions are, what has been achieved with our deployments already and how we see the future of parking. 

That leaves us with nothing left to say but this: Go explore and have fun! 

Please don’t hesitate to contact us for any questions, concerns or feedback you might have. 

Lower emissions and improve quality of life while growing revenue

19 November 2020

When:

10 - 11 AM (PCT) / 7 - 8 PM (CT)

Time: 

Representatives of utility companies and cities or anyone else who is interested in the topic

Expected audience: 

English

Spoken language:

Sign up here

How to join the event:

Streetlights have extraordinary strategic importance in the development of smart cities as they ‘overlook’ essential properties of a city: on-street or surface parking spaces, delivery and drop-off zones, e-charging stations, as well as no parking zones such as fire hydrants.

Meanwhile, parking search traffic causes up to 30% of all inner-city traffic. Smart parking solutions provide the data and guidance required to help cities reduce traffic and emissions and increase parking and shopping revenue while allowing drivers to enjoy a smooth, stress-free arrival experience.

Each streetlight has a staggering ability to manage $80K-$400K in annual revenue potential for a city. How? Cleverciti’s streetlight-mounted AI sensor can typically monitor 10-50 parking spaces, whereas each parking space has an annual revenue potential of about $8,000.

For utilities, generating valuable data via existing streetlight assets opens new opportunities to generate revenue while making cities more livable by reducing traffic and emissions. Higher parking turnover and increased compliance helps local retailers to attract shoppers and grow their businesses.

In addition, with the growth of delivery vehicles, managing the curb has become a crucial challenge: avoiding double parking and monitoring dwell times of delivery vehicles in dedicated loading zones improves traffic flow and safety.

This webinar will dive deep into crucial topics for the evolution of smart cities:

• How utilities can enter the data business by leveraging their streetlight assets

• How to effectively manage the curb to make the best use of this valuable real estate while improving safety and congestion

• How to make cities more livable by reducing traffic and emissions with smart parking

Join Cleverciti, the leading smart parking solution, and Itron, the world leader in smart city solutions, delivering critical infrastructure to help utilities and cities manage energy and water” to gain insights and examples of how cities and utilities can manage their on-street assets in a highly efficient way and turn data, generated directly at each streetlight into a valuable smart city revenue driver.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Munich, Germany - Welcome to the new Cleverciti website! The past few months, we at Cleverciti, have been working very hard to revamp our website to structure the information better for you, give it a fresh look that fits our brand better, and make it future-proof! Many developments are happening in the fields of smart cities and smart parking which means Cleverciti needs to be ahead of the curve. By looking through our website, you’ll learn what we believe in, what ambitions we have for the future, and what solutions we offer. We are green, we are clean and we are ready to transform your city into a Cleverciti!

From now on, you will only see the new website. The URL remains the same (www.cleverciti.com), but the structure of the website is slightly different. What’s new or changed are the following sections:

• Verticals

• Solutions 

• Innovations 

• Resources

With ‘Verticals’ we mean the specific entities that we can support with our smart parking solutions, for example, cities, tourism destinations, shopping malls, airports, stadiums etc. 

With ‘Solutions’ we mean the smart parking solutions that we offer, for example, our parking guidance system or curb management solution. 

Under ‘Innovations’ you can find the technologies that we’ve developed ourselves over the years to elevate these solutions, such as the CIRC360™ or the Cleverciti Card.  

Under ‘Resources’ you will find the newly developed Resource Library, containing our latest news as well as informative articles on the topics of smart city, smart parking or discussing the latest industry trends. You can also find our upcoming events, a list of products we integrate well with and our media coverage.  

We look forward to welcoming you back to our website. Please don’t hesitate to contact us for any questions, concerns or feedback you might have.

Stay tuned - additional features and updates will be released in the weeks to come.

Munich, Germany - On October 1st Cleverciti hosted its very first online event about the smart parking pilot that is happening in Cologne-Nippes as we speak. The pilot is a collaboration between the city district itself, RheinEnergie AG and Cleverciti. The event that took place from 3-4PM was moderated by Dr. Günther Picker, Senior Vice President Strategic Partnerships & Business Development at Cleverciti. The panel of speakers consisted of:

• Thomas Hohenacker, Founder & CEO of Cleverciti

• Bernd Schößler, district mayor of Cologne-Nippes

• Christian Remacly, Project manager of Rheinenergie AG

Dr. Günther Picker

Thomas Hohenacker

Bernd Schößler

Christian Remacly

After briefly introducing the speakers, Dr. Picker asked Mr. Hohenacker to open with explaining a little more about the project in Cologne-Nippes and what the mission of the project was (f.e. to reduce traffic and improve the arrival experience of people visiting the commercial center of Cologne-Nippes). 

Mr. Hohenacker shares a short presentation in which he explains the technology that was used in the pilot: a combination of Cleverciti’s own 80 overhead sensors with 27 Circ360™ LED displays, that can be mounted onto existing lampposts. Each sensor can monitor 10-70 parking spots at a time. Therefore the district knows at all time how many parking spots are taken and how many are free and their exact location. The sensors are also able to identify parking spots without marking (also called ‘floating parking spots’). The technology of the sensors is a combination of artificial intelligence with edge computing. 

After sharing a bit of background information about the Cleverciti Cockpit and the data that can be found  there, Mr. Hohenacker shows the actual Cockpit of Cologne-Nippes live. If you click on a specific parking spot, you can find specific information about that spot, f.e. the length of stay of the car that is currently parked there. The Cockpit also contains overall statistics, analyses and historical data.

Dr. Picker continues the conversation by asking a few questions about the project himself as well as asking questions from the audience to the panel members. The audience shows a high level of engagement and asks many detailed questions which are each answered by one of the panel members. Examples of questions were:

• What was the traffic situation like in Cologne-Nippes?

• How did the execution of the project go?

• Why did RheinEnergie choose Cleverciti?

• Have you seen a difference in Cologne-Nippes? 

• What were the first reactions of the residents?

• Is it also possible to get power from other systems, such as solar systems or batteries?

To hear the full answers of the panel members to these questions, watch the full recording that is added below. The questions and answers start at 14:45.

When the clock almost hits 4PM, Dr. Picker ends the conversation by thanking the attendees and the speakers for their attendance. He commends them on their detailed questions and states that if further questions pop up, they are welcome to contact Cleverciti at info@cleverciti.com or via Cleverciti’s homepage. Attendees of the event included, but not limited to: the cities of Hamburg, Wuppertal & Trier. 

Cleverciti would like to thank the speakers and all attendees for joining. And stay tuned for the next one! 

Missed it? Watch the full recording here (in German):

The PowerPoint slides that were shared by Mr. Hohenacker can be viewed below (in German):

Interested in learning more about smart city parking solutions? Click the button below to schedule a demo with a smart parking expert now.

Munich, Germany, October 14th 2020 - Cleverciti, the German and US scale-up that is leading the smart parking revolution, announced today it has raised $5.6 million USD in an A+ funding round. All existing institutional investors participated in the round led by SPDG Ventures, including The Westly Group, EnBW New Ventures (ENV) and KfW. The investment brings Cleverciti’s total funding since 2015 to $28.3 million and will help the company expand its sales and marketing activities as well as accelerate deployment of its parking Solution as a Service (SaaS).

Cleverciti’s smart parking solutions help cities and organizations reduce traffic and emissions and increase parking and shopping revenue while allowing drivers to enjoy a smooth, stress-free arrival experience. Cleverciti has been deployed in a wide variety of use cases across the globe – at over 200 locations in over 20 countries. One of Cleverciti’s latest large-scale installations is the comprehensive on-street parking guidance in Cologne that launched in June 2020. Drivers are now guided turn-by-turn to an available on-street parking space with Cleverciti’s innovative digital signs on each street corner and a mobile app.

Since pioneering its edge-computing, AI-based IoT sensors, 360-degree guidance solutions, and vehicle location cards, Cleverciti has solidified its place as the technology leader in smart parking solutions and services. The sensors and digital signs are typically mounted on lampposts and up to 100 spaces can be monitored by a single sensor. Vehicle location cards identify the precise location of a vehicle in a parking area and automate payment and permits. With deployments in smart cities, park & rides, shopping malls, hospitals and corporate campuses, Cleverciti is defining the future of smart parking with innovative technologies. 

Olivier Périer, Chairman of the Board and Lead Investor, notes: “We are proud to have all of Cleverciti’s investors around the table in the middle of a worldwide crisis. It reflects the unique position Cleverciti is in: well-funded, leading the reduction of traffic and emissions in our cities, and allowing parking operators to manage their assets in a holistic way”.

“We evaluated smart parking solutions from all over the world before investing in Cleverciti.  We believe Cleverciti has developed the world’s best solution for smart, efficient parking and guidance, that will help cities reimagine how they can reduce congestion in downtown and retail areas.” said Steve Westly, Managing Partner of the Westly Group.

Thomas Hohenacker, CEO and David Parker, COO, are thrilled to be partnered with this esteemed group of investors to transform the parking experience: “We must reduce CO2 emissions, make our cities smarter and more livable and reduce wasted time and energy. Cleverciti makes an immediate impact in each of these areas, by allowing drivers to use our smart parking data and turn-by-turn guidance systems to park quickly and seamlessly.”

The international Cleverciti team consists of some of the brightest and most experienced experts from the fields of IOT, AI, and parking. Cleverciti’s headquarters are in Munich, Germany and Atlanta, US and their global sales and customer support organizations are designed to meet customer needs around the world.

Interested in learning more about smart city parking solutions? Click the button below to schedule a demo with a smart parking expert now.

By Thomas Hohenacker, CEO and Founder of Cleverciti

Before founding Cleverciti, I frequently encountered the same issue that every person at one time or another deals with: the lack of reliable parking guidance. Whenever driving, I had a simple goal: to find an open spot in a reasonable amount of time that was not too far from my destination. Unfortunately, as my wife can attest, my goal was often not achieved.

I knew that there were several problems with this being the norm. First and foremost, the extensive search and distance someone must go through to find a parking space could take even longer than anticipated. Secondly, the search for parking is a significant problem for the environment. While multiple factors are responsible for climate change and global warming, transportation is known to be a significant contributor to the greenhouse gases emitted annually.

Pollution from vehicles leads to poor air quality and that pollution directly contributes to climate change. But more efficient parking directly reduces vehicle emissions. Take this example, for instance: in a mall with 1,000 parking spaces, shoppers typically drive the equivalent of 75 times around the world each year, merely searching for parking guidance. Imagine the impact of reducing this by 30 percent: We can save 25 trips around the world.

Armed with my passion for the environment, I knew there had to be a better way. Basing the calculation of finding an open parking spot on luck or chance is simply an outdated approach. Modern-day parking guidance is the solution.

As a tech-obsessed entrepreneur, I have always enjoyed talking on challenges, particularly ones solved through technology and innovation. It’s that drive, in part, that brought me to examine the issues with parking guidance carefully and how an intelligent approach can improve global challenges. By bringing new parking guidance technology to the smart parking industry, I found the chance to harness my passion for technology to make positive impacts with regards to convenience, traffic and the environment.

I firmly believe that parking guidance technology like Cleverciti’s can simplify our daily lives and transform our environmental efforts. As we move into the next decade, we will be advocating the overarching benefits of intelligent parking, including health benefits. Because less stress for drivers, and decreased traffic contributes to a better environment. And that’s a win-win for us all. 

This blog is part of a series that will dive into key members of the Cleverciti team and how they leverage their personal experiences to best lead the company.

Thomas Hohenacker is the Founder and CEO of Cleverciti Systems. Founded in 2012, Cleverciti develops a comprehensive suite of intelligent solutions designed to ease the parking experience and enhance driver communication.

By Thomas Hohenacker, CEO and Founder of Cleverciti

The Internet of Things (IoT) is transforming how we live. From interactive entertainment and cloud-based services to self-driving cars and home automation, we’re all increasingly taking part in the connected world. And why wouldn’t we be? The IoT delivers many benefits (I know I’m not the only one who has asked Alexa to do the laundry, for example) for various aspects of life.

Cities are particularly well-positioned to experience significant benefits from the IoT. According to recent research from IoT Analytics on 1,600 real IoT use cases, the largest amount of projects were part of Smart City initiatives. The myriad use cases (from air quality monitoring to smart parking to real-time gunshot detection) can help citizens and visitors achieve better lives and help cities to stay reliably within their budget.

Even though the promise of the connected world is still in its infancy, there are already many proven IoT technologies today that are quickly gaining adoption across the world’s leading cities. The accessibility of these technologies makes it possible for any city to jump on the digital transformation bandwagon and deliver improved services for its citizens. New York City’s Smart City efforts, for example, include energy conservation through smart lighting and air quality monitoring. The city of Bad Hersfeld in Germany uses sensors to guide visitors quickly to available parking areas, significantly reducing CO2 emissions and pollution in the city.

IoT-powered Smart Cities: Now accessible to all

Thanks to extraordinary innovations from the global startup ecosystem, IoT devices have reduced substantially in cost while increasing in processing power. With this change, previously unthinkable potential is available at costs that are now accessible to nearly any city. I speak with cities every week who previously thought advanced IoT solutions were out of reach but are amazed to see the value they can generate for their citizens with a positive benefit to the overall financial position.

When considering a smart city solution, it is of course important to consider the financial impact. Many of the best solutions generate revenues or cut existing expenses, yielding a positive ROI very quickly. In addition, instead of large, up-front capital expenditures, some of the best solutions are available with a regular monthly fee structure, enabling cities to experience that positive ROI immediately rather than having to wait years for large up-front costs to pay off.

Some solutions can even be revenue generating. For example, curbside management solutions provide ridesharing and delivery drivers with a safe and efficient means to stop curbside, and also open the possibility for a city to charge a small transaction fee for each curb access event. Smart parking systems both increase utilization of paid parking spaces by more efficiently guiding users to available spaces and encourage more citizens to pay for the parking they use, thereby increasing parking revenues. Smart traffic management systems can automatically adjust traffic light timings to improve traffic flow and consequently improve timeliness of on-street public transit, leading to increased ridership and higher revenues.

The primary goal of these systems is always to improve city life for residents and visitors. The additional benefit of revenues or cost savings coupled with low recurring fee structures from IoT smart city vendors (versus large up-front capex) allows for cities to realize an immediate ROI and ease budgeting for future investments.

Data Privacy: Benefits of edge computing

As our world becomes more connected, data privacy issues make headline news nearly every week. Citizens place an enormous amount of trust in city officials to ensure that their data is protected, and that their security will not be compromised by living in the city. While technology has created some of these problems, technology will also help to solve them.

Today, sensors have become extraordinarily advanced. Power that was previously only available to super-computers can now be fit inside a low-energy consumption sensor. The term “edge computing” refers to sensors that don’t just sense data, they make sense of the data. With an edge computing model, sensors run its own advanced machine learning model in real-time, only sending data when certain user parameters are met. This approach ensures that no identifiable data is sent over the network.

Artificial Intelligence: Making sense of the deluge of data

The primary reason cities want to collect data is to improve situational awareness. However, they need to identify the right data to experience the most profound benefit. Smart city solutions generate millions of data points per day in any one city, and if implemented improperly can simply lead to confusion and data overload. That is why, now more than ever, artificial intelligence (AI) is part of the conversation regarding data collection. AI can be used to automatically pinpoint the data that is most important to a city and transform that data into useful, accessible information that enables quick and informed decision-making.

The best smart city solutions include dashboards and mobile apps that hide the complexity of millions of data points and instead present highly actionable information to the users. For example, video analytics can be used to identify and then manage traffic chokepoints. If a traffic jam is detected, users are notified and can take the proper action, such as opening up new lanes for travel or changing the current timing of traffic lights. These innovations are a valuable tool in data management and capture where vast amounts of raw data are uncategorized.

The digital ecosystem: Easing communication

Before the digital revolution, technologies were siloed and didn’t share a common language, and therefore didn’t “speak” to one another. Cities had to manually extract data from one system and then try to see how that information related to other events. This was a timely and complex process, to say the least. Today, we live in a much different world.

Open application programming interfaces allow for one system to communicate with another system, sharing data in a structured format. Through open APIs, different systems from different vendors are able to speak to one another, thereby eliminating manual work to gain insights that require looking at multiple types of sensor data together. Connecting information from multiple systems in one place provides myriad benefits to cities, allowing for the delivery of streamlined event-based information that enhances decision-making and accelerates response times.

IoT: The future of Smart Cities

There is no doubt that the IoT is impacting modern-day cities in a significant way. A combination of AI, advanced computing and contextually rich, real-time data streams delivered by IoT sensors and networks is makes smart city development affordable, accessible, and compelling moving forward. The IoT is the cornerstone of the digital transformation because it allows cities to optimize existing operations and excel at creating and pursuing exciting new business models. How will you grab hold of this opportunity?

This blog is part of a series that will dive into key members of the Cleverciti team and how they leverage their personal experiences to best lead the company.

Thomas Hohenacker is the Founder and CEO of Cleverciti Systems. Founded in 2012, Cleverciti develops a comprehensive suite of intelligent solutions designed to ease the parking experience and enhance driver communication.

Cleverciti is proud to announce the newest technology in our smart parking solution: The Cleverciti Card, the first system to seamlessly combine indoor and outdoor parking guidance, including single space occupancy detection, in a single platform.

Smart parking just got a whole lot easier (and smaller).

Cleverciti Card is a credit-card-sized “active card” that sits in the windshield of a driver’s vehicle and communicates with the Cleverciti System in garages, on-surface parking areas and on-street parking to deliver an integrated, frictionless payment and parking option for drivers. The addition of the new product makes Cleverciti the first indoor AND outdoor smart parking solution, perfect for any organization that wants to provide a more streamlined customer experience, including shopping centers, corporate parking lots and cities.

The Cleverciti Card brings a swath of new capabilities to customers, including:

Parking Location Services

The Cleverciti Card sends geofenced push messages to drivers to help find the closest parking spot, saving time (and fuel!) by minimizing driving in needless circles looking for a spot. The data collected through the entire Cleverciti system and now the Card, gives the driver real-time data to make parking simpler.

Operator Identification

The new technology allows the parking operator to view the exact position of a vehicle, as well as the identification of each user and their permit, reservation and payment status, via the Cleverciti Cockpit, the live management dashboard. All of this information not only empowers the parking operator to make educated decisions based on real-time data, but also provides historical analysis to better understand the end user’s behavior.

Permit approval

Because of the new data being sent to the parking operator via an individual’s cars, the Cleverciti Card can act as a digital permit, replacing physical permit cards or windshield stickers. The incorporation of the new technology can also minimize entrance and exit traffic in parking lots and garages.

Streamlined payment

In addition to the Cleverciti Card operating as a digital permit, it can streamline payment for parking. The technology can replace outdated payment boxes for cities and take digital payment for pay-to-park such as Park & Ride transportation locations. By mitigating the need of payment boxes and garage attendants, organizations can better utilize manpower and assets to focus on the future instead of fixing technology of the past.

Cleverciti currently has over 56 installations in 20 countries around the world. Its comprehensive suite of smart parking solutions is an ideal choice for organizations focused on a forward-thinking approach to customer service that also seeks to streamline parking and increase the revenue potential of their parking assets.

“With the Cleverciti Card, we can now offer a new level of parking guidance through the integration of permit and payment features for outdoor and indoor parking, without the need to install expensive infrastructure, such as single space sensors. We have placed the sensor, permit and payment functions into a single application, providing a truly seamless and comfortable parking experience for drivers,” said Thomas Hohenacker, CEO and Founder, Cleverciti. “Companies can now manage corporate parking in a highly efficient way, and organizations with the desire to manage multiple users, including valet parking, have now complete control over their parking assets.”

For more information about the Cleverciti Card, click here.

The parking detection, guidance and monitoring company Cleverciti Systems has announced it will showcase its “clever parking” solution for on-street and open-air parking management at Parkex 2018 next month in Coventry, UK.

It is launching what it says is the industry’s first 360 degree real-time digital signage solution for pole and aisle wayfinding, the CIRC360™, which is an omnidirectional floating LED sign that displays live parking information in 360 degrees and can be mounted on existing lampposts of any size and type.

“Capable of displaying selected information for drivers approaching from different directions, the CIRC360™ can be located directly above parking spaces and utilised for a range of dynamic on-street and open-air digital signage applications; including the combination of local parking guidance with advertising and other messaging, such as smart city data, as well as security notifications,” the company says in a statement. 

Cleverciti Systems is a disruptive solution combining IoT (Internet of Things) and big data expertise which has revolutionised the management of on-street and open-air parking. Now in daily operation in over 15 countries worldwide, Cleverciti is proven to be extremely accurate and reliable while also improving the standard of living of citizens.

“Its powerful proprietary overhead sensor technology and innovative Cockpit management software empower cities, property owners and operators to manage parking in a more intelligent and efficient way. Access to the Cockpit is seamless via Cleverciti’s REST API allowing authorised users to quickly and easily monitor and analyse highly accurate smart data (historical and real-time) on parking space availability, utilisation and other key metrics.”

The company adds that cities can leverage this information to significantly reduce traffic congestion and emissions caused by parking search traffic while also greatly increasing parking revenues. At the same time, parking operators – at airports and shopping malls for instance – are using the Cleverciti System to improve overall customer experience and increase the time for shopping, instead of searching for parking spaces, and that motorists benefit too from precise, real-time parking information allowing them to make intelligent decisions. It adds, “The Cleverciti platform offers real-time digital parking guidance via its parking app features which can be integrated into client apps as an attractive front-end. The Cleverciti app provides motorists with live overviews of available and occupied parking spaces, guiding them directly to the nearest available space in the immediate vicinity. Cleverciti’s shopping mall app will guide drivers directly to the nearest space of the store of their choice.”

Parkex takes place at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry, UK, on 13 and 14 June.

Cleverciti Systems, a leader in comprehensive, high-tech solutions for outdoor and on-street parking detection, monitoring and guidance, marked the end of 2018 with strong results across its business as more organizations look to leverage intelligent, IoT-based solutions to streamline parking operations.

Cleverciti secured 13 new installations in Q4 2018 and projects more than 20 new deals to close in Q1 2019 in a wide range of targeted vertical markets, including retail, corporate campuses and smart cities. The company’s momentum further positions the company as a leader in the smart parking segment.

“Interest in Cleverciti solutions to streamline parking management in a number of environments using Clevercit’s sensor technology and wayfinding systems, incorporating artificial intelligence continues to increase as customers realize the value of this technology for improving day-to-day operations,” said Thomas Hohenacker, Founder and CEO, Cleverciti Systems. “This growth is a testament to the advantages of our unique technologies, which offer superior intelligence and reliability at a much higher value than other smart parking products on the market today.”

Key Cleverciti developments include:

• The Cleverciti suite of intelligent parking technologies — the CIRC360™, Cleverciti Cockpit and the Cleverciti Top Reach sensors — at major Unibail Rodamco Westfield shopping center in Bochum, Germany, and the Leto Shopping Center from the Malltech Group in St. Petersburg, Russia.

• Expansion into the supermarket arena, which generated four additional installations in Germany and Austria.

• Corporate campus wins at the Skolvovo Tech Park in Russia and at one of the leading utilities, EnBW, in Germany.

• Deployment of the company’s smart parking solutions in several cities in Germany as well as cities in Ukraine and Greece to reduce traffic and emissions as part of their Smart City initiatives.

• Park & Ride facilities in Germany and London are leveraging Cleverciti technologies to provide real-time parking information to authorities to help them optimize parking assets in more than 80 locations.

• Launch of the Cleverciti Global Channel Partner Program, which is designed to provide the support and service needed to successfully install Cleverciti solutions.

• Cleverciti was named one of the first companies in the “GSMA 100,” a global innovation initiative developed by the GSMA to identify and advance the next generation of connectivity and digital services and awarded the German American Business “Excellence in Innovation” award by the German American Chambers of Commerce (GACC) for its cutting-edge smart parking management technology.

Investment in the company’s sales, support and marketing efforts has resulted in increased visibility.

A lack of parking monitoring and guidance often leads to increased traffic, pollution and driver frustration for cities, retailers, airports and more, while also detracting potential revenue.

Cleverciti’s suite of products revolutionizes the parking experience, offering efficient local guidance with real-time parking data, as well as the ability for customers to display additional marketing and event messages.

“We are proud of the results we’ve achieved over the past six months and we look forward to continuing this trajectory and educating leaders on how to turn parking spaces into revenue generators for their organizations,” Markus Grauvogl, VP Sales EMEAR, said.

As a leader in intelligent parking solutions, the company seeks to help organizations reduce traffic and emissions, and increase revenue while allowing drivers to enjoy a smooth, stress-free parking experience. The company is headquartered in Munich, Germany, with offices in Chicago and Atlanta.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – May 14, 2018 – Leading parking technology provider Cleverciti today launched Circ360™, the industry’s first 360-degree overhead display that provides real-time digital traffic flow information and advertising space for open-air parking lots.

“The Circ360™ LED displays are ideal for venues like shopping malls looking to enhance the overall customer experience,” said Thomas Hohenacker, founder and CEO, Cleverciti. “The Circ360™ turns the daily headache of parking into a simple service that retail property owners can offer their tenants and guests.”

The accurate and reliable Circ360™ is an omnidirectional floating LED sign that displays live parking information and messaging from retailers in 360 degrees. It can be mounted on existing lampposts of any size within 15 minutes. The displays are ideal for a range of dynamic on-street and open-air digital signage applications, including local parking availability, advertising, smart city data, security notifications and more.

“Shoppers spend 10 to 12 minutes on average searching for a parking space when they visit a mall,” added Hohenacker. “This results in significant lost revenue for retailers because customers may spend less time shopping or potentially leave out of frustration.”

Now in daily operation in more than 19 countries worldwide, Cleverciti’s high-precision overhead parking sensors and innovative Cockpit management software empower cities and property owners to manage parking in a more intelligent and efficient way. Cleverciti helps reduce traffic congestion and emissions, while dramatically improving the parking experience for consumers. It also helps grow revenues for cities, airports, malls and numerous other businesses.