In general, parking spaces for mobility impaired are reduced to about 6% of the total amount of parking spaces. In Italy only 2% of the parking spaces are allocated to disabled. The limited spaces which are available for them are often occupied by vehicles without a disabled permit, depriving mobility impaired people of a “vital" resource and cities in Italy are working on initiatives to improve mobility for elderly and mobility impaired drivers.

Nedap’s Sensit System consists of in-ground parking sensors, that detect the occupancy status of each (disabled) parking bay in real-time. Through the wireless sensor network, the occupancy and parking duration in the cities are transmitted to Project Automation’s Wespark solution, the central software application.

Nedap’s E-Parking License (Electronic Parking License) is issued to all mobility impaired in the Livorno and Lerici region and acts as a digital disabled parking permit. The device, which can be placed on the inside windshield of the vehicle, is fully integrated with the Sensit system to detect if the person is authorised to park in the designated bay. The parking license automatically transmits its presence to the central software application, right when the vehicle parks.

The E-Parking License and Nedap Sensit sensors will be rolled out by Project Automation through the Livorno region to remote monitor parking bays reserved for disabled parking. Gradually, the sensors will be placed in all the parking bays of the territory.

“This is the first large scale application using Electronic Parking Licenses to monitor legitimate use of disabled parking bays world-wide and therefor is a breakthrough in technology. It benefits the users by providing available spaces for those designated user groups the bays are allocated to.” according Davide Bogni, Business Unit Manager for Project Automation.