A new app aims to take advantage of connected car technology to help drivers find parking spaces more quickly. Thanks to real-time knowledge of what’s happening on the road, the search for an empty space could soon be a thing of the past.
Called Wejo, the British app will use data processed from connected cars. In theory, if all cars are connected and everyone has the app, it can use data to ascertain everything from the best routes to avoid traffic, to where parking spaces are free.
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The potential is enormous, says Wejo, to ‘create new revenue streams, reduce costs or enhance safety and convenience for drivers’.
The Chester-based company has investors including US automotive giant General Motors, which paid £20 million for a 10 percent stake.
The company’s founder, entrepreneur Richard Barlow, will find other uses for the data as well. He intends to supply it to insurance firms, breakdown services and local authorities.
The question, of course, is whether drivers will want to sign up, given their data will be so widely available.
That said, the app apparently ‘obsesses about putting drivers and passengers first with built-in compliance and anonymisation frameworks, making sure that what’s private, stays private’.