Parkopedia and EasyPark have joined forces to allow Mercedes-Benz drivers to pay for parking via their car dashboard.
For now, the service is available in around 200 German cities, but the in-car payment facility will be rolled out across Europe. EasyPark covers 1,400 cities across 18 countries, while Parkopedia provides information on 70 million parking spaces in around 15,000 cities.
The Mercedes-Benz owner requires a MercedesPay account, with payments handled by their Single Sign-On account.
Upon arrival at paid on-street parking zone, the Mercedes-Benz vehicle triggers the automated parking payment. The driver confirms the start of the transaction and exits the car. When the driver returns to the vehicle and starts the ignition, he or she is prompted to the stop the transaction. The MercedesPay account is charged – with the driver paying for the actual time spent at the parking location.
EasyPark Group CEO Johan Birgersson, said: “The Mercedes-Benz brand is synonymous with world-class design and the highest quality driving experience. Bringing the latest technology into cars to address the main parking pain points, the time drivers have to spend on finding and paying for parking, this innovative feature allows for a smooth and easy user experience that saves time and effort for users.”
Parking of tomorrow
Commenting on the announcement, Parkopedia’s COO Hans Puvogel added, “The launch of Single Sign-On payments for EasyPark-enabled locations is another example of how Parkopedia is working to help innovate the parking industry and provide better experiences for drivers.
”We are honoured that Mercedes-Benz has extended its trust in Parkopedia and EasyPark to offer on-demand parking as part of Mercedes-Benz’s comprehensive in-car parking services, and look forward to continuing to work together to further enhance the in-car experience for drivers.”
Every year, drivers in Europe and North America spend an average of 55 hours searching for parking spaces. Services such as Parkopedia will speed up the process of finding a space, while innovations such as this latest announcement will make searching for loose change a thing of the past. Indeed, the transaction will start and finish at a touch of a button.
In a previous statement, car park operator APCOA claimed looking for a suitable parking space accounts for practically one third of inner-city traffic. Mercedes-Benz said this would correspond to CO2 emissions of 1.3kg per search.