We received so many great responses to the December 2025 question that we wanted to share them all! Click here to see the responses listed in Parking & Mobility magazine, and then read on for more great thoughts!
What innovation or breakthrough do you believe has the most impact on transforming the future of parking and mobility?
James Fedor, Senior Product Manager, T2 Systems Inc.
“License plate recognition and video analytics powered by AI and machine learning will enhance security and convenience for parkers when integrated with secure mobile credential and payment options. Open API platforms will unify these technologies to deliver a seamless, consistent parking experience across a multitude of parking systems and environments.”
Joshua Mallernee, Business Services Supervisor, City of Asheville, North Carolina
“In my view, the most transformative innovation shaping the future of parking and mobility is the integration of real-time data analytics and dynamic pricing within smart parking systems. Cities are moving away from static enforcement and flat-rate models toward adaptive, demand-based systems that adjust pricing, availability, and enforcement priorities in real time.
This approach allows municipalities to better manage occupancy, reduce congestion, and create a more seamless experience for customers. Instead of circling for parking or guessing at availability, drivers can rely on connected meters, mobile apps, and sensor-based systems that provide live updates and guidance. For city staff, this same data supports smarter resource allocation, improved enforcement, and data-driven decision-making.
I also believe the next major breakthrough will come through automated billing and account-based parking. By combining license plate recognition with app-based accounts and credit cards on file, cities could move toward a true “park-and-go” system, where users are billed automatically for the exact time their vehicle occupies a space. This would make parking frictionless for users and more efficient for staff.
The long-term goal should be working toward a universalist solution that works for everyone. This type of system would give customers the freedom to choose their preferred payment method while encouraging a move toward a no-cash model that simplifies transactions, reduces maintenance costs, and improves financial accountability.
Ultimately, these innovations are transforming parking from a static service into a connected, customer-focused mobility network that supports accessibility, efficiency, and modernization.”
Ahmed Darrat, Chief Product Officer, INRIX
“The most transformative innovation is the widespread adoption of the Open Mobility Foundation’s Curb Data Specification. This fundamental shift that open-source data standards provides is moving our industry away from proprietary technology silos toward interoperable, customer-oriented solutions. This common ‘digital language’ is the essential foundation that will unlock the true potential of future mobility such as automated driving, targeted and automated enforcement, and dynamic regulations to help.”
Raf Abanilla, Senior Vice President, Parking Concepts, Inc.
“The real breakthrough isn’t A.I. itself — it’s how we humanize it. The future of parking and mobility will be shaped by operators and asset owners who use A.I. to anticipate behavior, personalize service, and simplify access, all while preserving the human connection that defines trust in our communities.”
Kristyna Schedine, Sales Enablement Manager, DESIGNA US
“We are living in the Era of AI, and it is an “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse” kind of impact across the industry. From incorporating AI into LPR for better read rates which can lead to going gateless and reducing infrastructure needs, to using AI enhanced service tools to streamline workflows, all the way to learning the art of prompting to maximize the volume of content creation it takes to keep your company at the forefront of the industry, prioritizing the understanding of AI and how it works with your tech and as tool in your own day-to-day has to be at the forefront of how we approach solutions.”
Leonardo J. Aguirre, Assistant Director, University of Texas at El Paso
“Artificial intelligence is arguably the most powerful tool available to the parking and transportation industry today. It enables us to predict trends, manage inventory, and optimize resources across all areas of operation. By integrating with our transportation systems, AI helps us deploy staff and vehicles to high-demand areas while reducing resource waste in underutilized locations.
Additionally, AI enhances our ability to manage enforcement operations and strategically plan their deployment. It has also streamlined repetitive and time-consuming tasks such as data collection and analysis, allowing our teams to focus on higher-value decision-making.
Ultimately, we must shift our mindset—AI is not a passing innovation or luxury; it is an essential tool for any modern parking and transportation operation seeking efficiency, insight, and sustainability.”
Francisco Navarro, Director of Design, Watry Design Inc.
“Electric vehicles, along with all the requirements needed to address the design and location of spaces to accommodate them, have the largest impact on the design and layout of new parking facilities. From increased electrical supply to added fire protection, proper layout and pedestrian circulation to and from chargers are elements of consideration that need to be addressed early on and affect the accessibility and comfort of the facility.”
Tope Longe, DSL, MBA, MBEF, Walker Consultants
“Industries and the way we conduct everyday activities are being transformed by Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems. This innovative breakthrough is expected to transform the future of parking and mobility, improving the overall experience by the integration of AI-driven smart parking systems within a Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) ecosystem. From personal experience, parking sensors and real-time data on availability now provide a significantly improved parking experience, enabling the monitoring of occupancy, guiding drivers to available spaces, and dynamically adjusting pricing. AI and predictive analytics improve demand forecasting and system efficiency. This can potentially reduce congestion and emissions and have a positive impact on parking turnover.
This shift transforms parking from a static asset to a dynamic mobility service, seamlessly linked with public transit, micromobility, and EV infrastructure, through AI. The breakthrough lies in smarter, connected systems that position parking as an intelligent, integrated part of mobility management, with improved space utilization, data-driven planning, and enhanced customer experience.”
Fred Bredemeyer, CEO, PAVE Mobility, Inc.
“The most significant breakthrough transforming the parking industry is the ability to automatically track vehicles through a variety of mechanisms, including fixed-camera License Plate Recognition (LPR), advanced in-car navigation capabilities, and other automatic vehicle tracking processes. This collective shift represents the true disruption by allowing operators to eliminate costly physical equipment while facilitating instant digital payment methods that are linked to the vehicle’s identity.”
Katherine Beaty, CEO/President, Beaty Solutions
“AI is helping make a truly frictionless parking experience a reality, simplifying the driver journey and transforming how we think about mobility.”
Jade Neville, Marketing Manager, Trellint
“The breakthrough isn’t AI alone, but how it empowers people to make smarter, faster decisions. By turning complex data into clarity—not replacing human insight but enhancing it—AI is redefining efficiency and user experience across the future of mobility.”
Cara Ann Murwyn, Marketing Coordinator, Barnacle Parking
“The rapid evolution of AI is the most transformative force shaping the future of parking and mobility. Automation powered by intelligent systems is improving enforcement, optimizing space utilization, and creating new efficiencies that redefine how cities and operators manage curbside access and mobility ecosystems.”
Jason M. Jones, Director – Parking & Mass Transit Services, University at Albany: SUNY
“It’s clear if you’re not using AI in parking and mobility, you’re already playing catch-up. After years of progress and lingering on the periphery, AI has finally moved to the center of parking and mobility and it’s changing everything. With the ability to combine historical trends and real-time data, AI is driving smarter pricing strategies, streamlining enforcement, creating more efficient transit systems, and helping cities and campuses plan with greater precision. The shift from reactive to proactive operations is no longer a future goal.”
Ben Wesley, PTMP, Regional VP, The Car Park
“The fusion of IoT sensors, LPR, and AI is revolutionizing parking across both public streets and private lots/garages. This technology delivers real-time occupancy data and AI-driven predictions, guiding drivers directly to available spots and thus cutting congestion and emissions. Automated enforcement streamlines compliance. On the public side, Dynamic Curb Management (DCM) adaptively switches the curb’s function to maximize utility, while LPR systems automatically identify registered fleet vehicles using dynamic zones (e.g., loading zones) and enable direct, automated billing to the corporate account without manual driver payment. Simultaneously, specialized firms are applying this framework to private assets to optimize revenue through dynamic pricing and digital oversell, while enhancing enforcement by using LPR and digital evidence to automatically detect violations, stop tailgating, and eliminate revenue leakage.”
Matt Feagins, Senior Parking Designer, WGI
“Autonomous Vehicles (AV) will be the most transformative technology in the parking industry. There is a big caveat to this: the technology has been harder than many anticipated and still is not ready for prime time. Given that, the use of many private vehicles will disappear as more and more people opt to use AVs. More and more parking areas will eventually be turned over into AV areas where they can charge and park overnight.”
Vanessa Solesbee, Principal, Dixon Resources Unlimited
“Our industry’s work to eliminate the need for standalone parking transactions by seamlessly integrating them into other trip and/or travel planning tools.”
Angelo Cole, Enforcement Lead, SUNY Brockport
“Standardization of higher education – parking, mobility and transportation.”
Scott C. Bauman, Manager of Parking & Services, City of Aurora, Colorado
“Application integration combined with the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI). The ability to connect AI solutions, new smart technologies, and different vendor software applications to enable them to work together as a seamless unified system will be an industry game changer. Enhanced automation and integration tools combined with advancing AI capabilities will transform the way we operate and interact with our valued customers.”
Kenzie Coulson, Senior Consultant, Walker Consultants
“Parking technologies are generating a tremendous amount of data, providing us with more opportunities to understand how to increase revenue, improve efficiency, and enhance compliance. The question remains, though, how quickly will data analytics permeate the small to medium-sized operation, where staff resources may be scarce? Our technologies require people to monitor the performance of the operation in coordination with data.”
Carl DePinto, MBA, Senior Executive Director of Mobility, Duke University and Health
“AI and how it is used in parking to optimize the utilization of space, automate payments, and navigate parkers.”
Jeremy Moon, Director of Product, Park Loyalty
“The quick answer to most questions about innovation in 2025 would be AI. However, the better answer here should be how we create the guardrails needed to safely utilize AI in our parking organizations. AI can be, and will be, powerfully reshaping how every one of us does our job, but we can’t just hand over the keys to the kingdom and expect things to go great. We need to make sure we keep the human touch involved in the decisions and not outsource them to a robot.”
Brian Shaw, Consultant, Kimley-Horn
“The use of AI to improve the use of cameras for parking monitoring will make it more affordable and feasible to digitize parking assets. This is allowing operators to move toward directed enforcement, automated payments, and real-time parking availability data for the public.”
Georgi Stoynov, Product Technical Manager, HUB Parking Technology USA
“The parking and mobility industry is undergoing its biggest shift in decades, moving from hardware and ticket machines to intelligent, connected systems powered by software, data, and AI.
Digital identity is replacing paper tickets as vehicles become the credential, linking parking with transit, EV charging, venues, and micromobility. AI now predicts demand, enhances safety, prevents fraud, answers intercom calls, and understands user patterns.
The next breakthrough is personalized mobility. A system that understands your habits and adjusts in real time guiding you to a preferred parking zone, reserving a space before you arrive, adjusting subscriptions to your usage patterns, or unlocking premium spots through loyalty. Families, seniors, and ADA drivers could receive tailored navigation and the nearest available space automatically.
Parking is evolving into a dynamic, data-driven layer of smart cities, fully integrated with everyday movement.”
Troy Richter, Director of Parking Services, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
“No surprise here, AI. AI will be used in all facets of parking and mobility. Many of us are already using AI to transform our work. AI will be embedded to a greater degree in our technologies, it will be perfected to assist with customer services, and customers will rely on AI to find parking and mobility solutions. The real breakthrough will come when we seamlessly integrate AI with our amazing teams. Service is still the most important part of our industry.”
John Hammerschlag, President, Hammerschlag & Co.
“The most transformative innovation in parking and mobility is the integration of smart infrastructure and AI-driven analytics. LPR improves the customer experience and violation enforcement. Cashless payment systems reduce labor costs, advance safety, and maximize revenue collection. Real-time occupancy and guidance systems streamline traffic. AI analytics will help operators predict occupancy and traffic volume, which will benefit traffic movement and promote dynamic pricing.”
Kevan Moniri, Chief Strategy Officer, JustPark
“The biggest innovation transforming event parking is the move toward smart, connected systems that put the customer experience first. By combining real-time data, digital pre-booking, and dynamic routing, event venues can predict demand, guide drivers seamlessly to available spaces, and integrate parking with wider mobility options like valet, EV charging, and accessibility. The result is a smoother, greener, and more efficient event journey — where parking becomes part of the experience, not the problem.”