Amid the pandemic, smart parking is seeing a glimmer of hope for growth.

  The pandemic has impacted parking facilities.

According to data from the KETO Parking Research Institute’s Big Data Center, during the pandemic, vehicle traffic declined by nearly 80%, with shopping‑mall parking lots seeing traffic fall to less than 12% of pre‑pandemic levels. In epidemic‑hit areas, traffic plummeted sharply, with Wuhan experiencing a month‑over‑month drop of 98%. Under immense cash‑flow pressure, all parking operators have come to recognize that labor represents a significant cost: even at minimal traffic volumes, manual management remains necessary, while also exposing staff to the risk of cross‑infection.

How can we conduct efficient quarantine and supervision of vehicles and personnel? How can we free up human resources and concentrate them on responding to the epidemic? And how can we minimize economic losses while boosting revenue? The well‑developed smart parking solutions offer valuable guidance for parking operators nationwide.

Smart parking mode demonstrates its advantages.

Under the impact of the pandemic, traditional manual management practices have been rapidly phased out, prompting parking operators to shift their focus toward smart parking solutions that enable unmanned toll collection, centralized control, and outsourced operations.

With the implementation of smart parking, parking lot management can be fully automated, allowing staff to handle vehicle entry and exit remotely via mobile devices. If a driver encounters an issue, they can simply press the call button at the parking facility to initiate a remote intercom with staff, facilitating the resolution of any irregularities.

This model not only reduces the risk of cross‑infection and enhances the customer experience but also frees up manpower at parking‑lot toll booths, allowing these staff members to be reassigned to epidemic‑prevention and control efforts.

Three Favorable Factors Bring “A Glimmer of Hope” to Smart Parking

Recently, the General Offices of the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the National Health Commission issued the “Notice on Supporting the Resumption of Operations by Commerce and Logistics Enterprises,” calling on local commerce authorities to introduce facilitative measures—such as subsidies for new car purchases, trade-in incentives for scrapping old vehicles, and the removal of restrictions on pickup trucks entering urban areas—to promote the smooth resumption of used‑car transactions and thereby stabilize and expand automobile consumption. Local governments have also rolled out corresponding policies. Notably, to effectively boost auto demand, it is essential to improve the driving environment, expand parking infrastructure, and address the challenge of insufficient parking spaces. For instance, Guizhou Province has announced that it will accelerate the development of smart parking facilities, with urban parking investments exceeding RMB 6 billion.

In addition, “new infrastructure” projects have become a key focus of this year’s development. AI‑driven smart parking, as a representative example of AI‑powered new infrastructure, will inject fresh momentum into economic growth and fully unlock the economy’s potential. It is foreseeable that smart parking will ride the wave of these policy initiatives.

Notably, as businesses across the country gradually resume operations, traffic volumes have begun to rebound, with user numbers on smart parking platforms recovering by 20% to 30%. Meanwhile, the proportion of drivers opting to pay via the platform has also risen sharply. The convergence of three key factors has created a rare opportunity for the smart parking industry. Many industry insiders believe that, during this pandemic, smart parking systems have demonstrated their advantages, which will bolster the sector’s long-term growth.