Don’t ask SpotHero co-founder and CEO Mark Lawrence to pick his favorite parking garage in Chicago. He’s been in 1,000 of them, and several top his list.
“It’s like picking a favorite child,” he said.
The Chicago-based parking reservation service has helped usher parking garages into the digital age. It launched as a website where users could select and prepay for a parking space, print out a piece of paper and scan it for entry into a garage or lot. Now, the company is integrating its technology with Google Assistant, Hertz rental cars and other connected vehicles. SpotHero also has readied 500 parking facilities in Chicago for driverless cars.
Q: How has the parking process changed since SpotHero launched in 2011?
A: You’re not printing out a piece of paper on a website; you’re interacting with a mobile phone that can then scan with technology that’s in the garage. You know exactly where you’re going to park, you know exactly how much you’re going to pay, and this platform that we’ve built is now hooking into all different types of things. Before, it was all either manual or cash-only or without technology.
Q: What new challenges does SpotHero face?
A: There needs to be added infrastructure and more technology which allows cars to seamlessly get in and out of a garage. In addition, there needs to be a software layer that interacts with that that also can power other platforms.
Q: What is SpotHero doing to get ready for autonomous vehicles?
A: We’re working with the connected car. That gets us to that autonomous future.
Q: How so?
A: Today things are done very (manually). If somebody drives their car, they can either park it themselves or go directly to the garage. But as autonomous cars move around without people, there’s going to be a demand for a platform that helps cars seamlessly get in and out of a garage. The only way to do that is with technology.
Q: What do autonomous vehicles mean for parking garages?
A: Self-driving cars are going to be a catalyst for technology in the garage because the cars are going to need to be charged, they’re going to need to be cleaned. They’re not going to be driving around in circles constantly because it’s just not going to be good for the fleets. What that means is the infrastructure today needs to be ready for the autonomous car tomorrow.
Q: What inspired you to launch SpotHero?
A: I received way too many parking tickets, and so I first started this to make it easier for parking.
Q: How much did you have to pay in parking tickets over the years?
A: It was a couple of thousand dollars in parking tickets. They’re all paid now.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
About the Author
