Cassandras Featured on NECN for “Smart Parking”
There is nothing enjoyable about driving around a parking lot looking for an empty space.
“Did you know that 30% of vehicles on the road in any major city downtown are cruising for a parking spot?” asked Professor Christos Cassandras (ECE, SE). “And that it takes the average driver 7.8 minutes to find a parking spot?”
What if you knew exactly which spot was open before you even entered a lot?
Cassandras and systems engineering graduate student, Yanfeng Geng, are developing a smart parking application that will allow drivers to reserve and pay for spaces using their smart phones – and their research was recently featured on New England Cable News (NECN).
The new application can reduce the amount of gas wasted, lessen air pollution and traffic congestion, and save drivers some of their sanity.
“Not only are these people frustrated, but they actually obstruct everybody else,” recently told NECN.
If the application works as well on the streets as in this garage, Cassandras believes that parking may not be such a problem in the future for Boston drivers.
Read more about Smart Parking research in BU Today.
-Samantha Gordon (COM ’12)