News

Stuttgart/Düsseldorf, Germany. November 29, 2024 – APCOA, the leading European car park operator, has won the German Sustainability Award (DNP) in the category Transport Infrastructure. APCOA was honoured for its Urban Hub concept. 

“We feel very honoured that APCOA and our Urban Hubs have been awarded the German Sustainability Award. This award emphasises that with smart concepts and the intelligent use of existing buildings we can transform our cities into a more sustainable environment for working and living, business and leisure,” says Frank van der Sant, Chief Commercial Officer of APCOA.

Niels Christ, Group Director Urban Hubs adds, “since the first idea of our Urban Hubs concept we have transformed over 500 car parks across 50 cities in 12 countries into mobility, logistics and charging hubs. These serve as logistics centers for last mile delivery, provide charging points for electric vehicles and function as pick-up and drop-off points for cars, e-scooters and e-bikes of mobility service providers.”    

Sustainable urban hubs from APCOA
With the Urban Hubs, the company is capitalising on its market-leading position with over 13,000 locations in Europe. For users of mobility services of all kinds, the car parks become important hubs that can be used 24/7, where you can park and charge, switch from a (shared) car to an e-scooter or back, pick up a delivered parcel from a locker board before continuing your journey or have your vehicle cleaned. Logistics service providers also use the areas as transshipment points, e.g. to consolidate several deliveries or to transfer to small electric vehicles for last-mile distribution. Based on APCOA’s digital platforms, the range of services and partners can be expanded as required and adapted to mobility developments and needs. The bundling of inner-city space, services and partners is unique in Europe.

APCOA officially launched its Urban Hub concept at the beginning of 2021 and has since implemented it at numerous international locations. Together with partners from the logistics, mobility and electric charging sectors, hubs for sustainable urban services have been created across Europe. Further locations are currently being set up and the company has ambitious plans for the future to further transform car park locations into urban hubs. In the future, the focus will also be on additional applications that are currently still dreams of the future: Drone logistics or autonomous electric charging.

The 17th German Sustainability Award
In 2024, the DNP once again honoured pioneering contributions to the transformation towards a sustainable future. A total of 100 companies will be honoured as part of the 17th DNP. The award uses the best examples to show how ecological and social progress can be achieved more quickly. It aims to motivate all key players to change, connect them across borders and encourage partnerships. The award is based on the goals of the 2030 Agenda and thus on the key areas of transformation such as climate, biodiversity, resources, supply chain and society. The DNP is awarded as part of the German Sustainability Day, which has become the leading congress on sustainability since 2008. The multi-stakeholder DNP project brings together all key players from politics, business, research and civil society. The diversity of institutional partners with different perspectives is reflected in the Foundation's Board of Trustees, but also in the methodology team, the jury and the circle of speakers at the events.

Contact

APCOA Group:
Sebastian Merkle
Flughafenstr. 34
70624 Stuttgart-Airport
Tel.: +49 711 94791-652

About APCOA 

APCOA is Europe's leading parking operator with more than 50 years of industry expertise. With its 5,000 employees, the Group manages more than 1.6 million individual parking spaces at 13,000 locations in 12 European countries. The company is active in the areas of parking, charging, technologies and urban solutions. With its consistent “asset light” business model, APCOA is a trusted partner, maximising value for private and public real estate owners.

Via its open digital platform, APCOA FLOW, the company connects on-street and off-street car parks with owners, partners, customers and their vehicles. Based on this technology, APCOA is transforming its car parks into urban hubs, creating the physical and digital infrastructure for mobility, logistics, EV charging and a wide range of innovative services that enable a more convenient mobility experience. 

The environment also benefits: With its digital services and intelligent Traffic Management System, the company actively contributes to the reduction of emissions in cities by decreasing the volume of logistics traffic and vehicles searching for parking. By connecting parking, mobility, and proximity services for urban living, APCOA is positioned to become an integral part of the digital and physical Smart City ecosystem.

www.apcoa.com
www.urban-hubs.com

Stuttgart, November 30th 2022 – Bosch and Mercedes-Benz have reached an important milestone on the way to automated driving: Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) has approved their highly automated parking system for use in the P6 parking garage run by APCOA at Stuttgart Airport. This makes it the world’s first highly automated driverless parking function to SAE Level 41 to be officially approved for commercial use. The technological advancement of automated driving plays a key role in the mobility of the future. With the vehicle and infrastructure taking over driving and maneuvering, drivers will be able to turn their attention to other things, instead of time spent looking for a parking space and maneuvering in tight parking garages.

“The world’s first approval for customer use of our highly automated and driverless parking function, developed together with our technology partner Bosch, shows that innovation leadership and ‘Made in Germany’ go hand in hand,” says Markus Schäfer, member of the board of management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, chief technology officer, responsible for development and procurement. “Following the market launch of our DRIVE PILOT Level 3 system, we will soon be offering a Level 4 system for parking with our INTELLIGENT PARK PILOT – all of that this year. We really are showing our customers how technology can make life easier and give back precious time.”

“Driverless parking is a key aspect of automated mobility. The highly automated parking system we developed together with our partner Mercedes-Benz shows just how far we’ve already progressed along this development path. It will be with driverless parking that everyday automated driving will start,” says Dr. Markus Heyn, member of the Bosch board of management and chairman of the Mobility Solutions business sector. “From the outset, Bosch has taken the approach of making the infrastructure in parking garages intelligent. Accordingly, we have set standards in this area. In the future, our aim is to equip more and more parking garages with the necessary infrastructure technology – we plan to do several hundred of them worldwide in the next few years.”

“We are extremely pleased to have successfully developed a connected system for driverless and contactless parking together with our partners from Bosch, Mercedes-Benz, and Stuttgart Airport. Our digital platform, APCOA FLOW, can be used to book spaces, for contactless access to the parking garage, and for automatic invoicing of the stay in the garage,” says Frank van der Sant, a member of the board of management and chief commercial officer of APCOA PARKING Group. “For our customers, this means a huge gain in convenience: planning certainty, hardly any wasted time, short distances to walk, and a contactless and cashless parking process.”

“We are proud that STR has been chosen as the airport for this global premiere,” says Walter Schoefer, management spokesperson for Flughafen Stuttgart GmbH, which runs Stuttgart Airport. “The project shows how innovative our region is. Automated Valet Parking really enhances our flight passengers’ comfort and convenience and saves them time, especially when they’re in a hurry and just want to drop their car off quickly at the airport.”

The technology behind driverless parking
Drive in to the parking garage, get out, and send the vehicle to a parking space just by tapping in a smartphone app – the Automated Valet Parking service has no need for a driver. Once the driver has left the parking garage – to spend the time just saved on doing something else – the vehicle drives itself to its assigned space and parks. Later, the vehicle returns to the pick-up point in exactly the same way. This process relies on the interplay between the intelligent infrastructure supplied by Bosch and installed in the parking garage and Mercedes-Benz automotive technology. Bosch sensors in the parking garage monitor the driving corridor and its surroundings and provide the information needed to guide the vehicle. The technology in the vehicle converts the information it receives from the infrastructure into driving maneuvers. This way, vehicles can even drive themselves up and down ramps to move between stories in the parking garage. If the infrastructure sensors detect an obstacle, the vehicle brakes and safely comes to a complete stop. Only once the route is clear does it continue on its way.

It was in 2019 that Bosch and Mercedes-Benz obtained the world’s first special permit to operate Automated Valet Parking using development vehicles without human oversight in everyday
operations of the parking garage of the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. The approval that has now been issued goes beyond this, allowing commercial operation with privately owned vehicles in the P6 parking garage at Stuttgart Airport. The basis for the approval is a law that came into force in Germany in July 2021, which permits driverless driving in accordance with SAE Level 4² for motor vehicles (BMDV – Germany will be the world leader in autonomous driving). Application of this law to the parking system was implemented in close coordination with the German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) and the KBA. The AFGBV (autonomous driving directive), passed by the upper chamber of the German parliament on May 20, 2022, clearly specifies the criteria of the German road traffic act that Level 4 vehicles must satisfy.

The companies plan to gradually roll out the driverless parking service in the APCOA P6 parking garage at Stuttgart Airport. From the day it is released for operation, the first customers with S-Class and EQS models built since July 2022 whose vehicle variants feature the INTELLIGENT PARK PILOT² service as part of Mercedes me connect, and who have activated this service, will be able to use the function at the P6 parking garage. Once drivers have used their Mercedes me app to book a parking space in advance, they can leave their vehicle in a predetermined drop-off area. After all the passengers have exited the vehicle, the app starts the parking maneuver. The parking system checks whether the route to the booked parking space is clear, and that all the other technical requirements have been satisfied. If this is the case, drivers receive a notification in the app confirming that the intelligent infrastructure has taken control of the vehicle. They can then leave the parking garage. The vehicle starts automatically and finds its own way to its parking space. When the driver wishes to retrieve their car from the parking garage, they can summon it via smartphone command. Their vehicle then makes its own way to a predetermined pick-up area.

[1] SAE J3016 defines six levels of automation for road vehicle driving operations (Level 0 to Level 5). Level 4 states: The vehicle can autonomously handle all traffic situations under certain conditions (e.g. in a parking garage). No driver is required.

[2] The INTELLIGENT PARK PILOT service from Mercedes me connect will initially be available in Germany for the Mercedes-Benz S-Class Saloon, Saloon Long and Mercedes EQS, starting with those built 07.2022 and later. This excludes Mercedes-Maybach and AMG models. The Mercedes-Benz S-Class Saloon and Saloon Long built as of 12.2020, excluding Mercedes-Maybach and AMG models, will follow shortly thereafter. Mercedes EQS models, excluding AMG, built as of 04.2021 will also follow shortly. As soon as INTELLIGENT PARK PILOT is available for a particular vehicle, the service will appear in the services menu of the Mercedes me app, ready for activation. In order to use the Mercedes me connect services, users require a personal Mercedes me ID and must agree to the conditions of use for Mercedes me connect services. Furthermore, the vehicle in question must be registered with the user account. Upon expiration of the initial period, users can extend services free-of-charge as long as those services remain available for that particular vehicle. First activation of services is possible within 1 year of initial vehicle registration or use by the customer, whichever is first.

Contact

APCOA PARKING Group:
Sebastian Merkle
Tel.: +49 711 94791-652
sebastian.merkle(at)apcoa.eu

Bosch:
Jennifer Kallweit
Tel.: +49 711 811-42239
Jennifer.Kallweit(at)de.bosch.com

Mercedes-Benz AG:
Alexandros Mitropoulos
Tel.: +49 (0) 176 309 96 021
alexandros.mitropoulos(at)mercedes-benz.com

Stuttgart Airport:
Johannes Schumm
Tel.: +49 711 948 3753
presse(at)stuttgart-airport.com

About APCOA PARKING Group
APCOA PARKING Group is Europe's leading parking operator with more than 50 years of industry expertise. With its 5,000 employees, the company manages more than 1.8 million individual parking spaces at over 12,000 locations that are easily accessible to 70 per cent of the population in 13 European countries. With its consistent "asset light" business model, APCOA is the trusted partner who maximises value for private and public real estate owners.

Via its open digital platform, APCOA FLOW, the company connects on-street and off-street car parks with owners, partners, customers and their vehicles. Based on this technology, APCOA is transforming its car parks into urban hubs, creating the physical and digital infrastructure for mobility, logistics, EV charging and a wide range of innovative services that enable a more convenient mobility experience. The environment also benefits: With its digital services and intelligent Traffic Management System, the company actively contributes to the reduction of emissions in cities by decreasing the volume of logistics traffic and vehicles searching for parking. By connecting parking, mobility, and services for urban living, APCOA is positioned to become an integral part of the digital and physical Smart City ecosystem.

www.apcoa.com

Stuttgart, 29th September 2022 – APCOA PARKING (APCOA), Europe’s leading parking operator with 1.8 million parking spaces at over 12,000 locations in 13 countries, has announced plans to deploy up to 100,000 new EV charging stations in its parking facilities by 2035. As part of its new EV strategy, APCOA will make the investment to expand its AC charging infrastructure and become a leading EV charging operator. In parallel, strategic partners from the automotive industry as well as energy and charging infrastructure providers will deploy additional 1,000 fast-charging stations across APCOA’s dense location network.

A new digital platform developed by APCOA will support the charging infrastructure which will be ready for non-proprietary hardware and can be operated independent of charge point ownership. This open and compatible setup allows the integration of multiple partners and services and represents a unique proposition in the market. The APCOA FLOW and APCOA Connect apps will serve as the frontend to the parking customer: They will be able to conveniently manage the entire EV charging process as well as additional value-added service including locating, booking and payment.

“The transition to electric mobility as the dominant technical solution in road traffic is an irreversible trend. EV charging infrastructure thus represents a major component of the transformation of APCOA’s car parks into ‘Urban Hubs’. For customers, the extended service infrastructure will increase the attractiveness of our locations. For us as an operator, we see substantial revenue potential from upgrading our parking sites with EV charging and other Urban Services”, explains Philippe Op de Beeck, CEO of APCOA PARKING Group. In keeping with its commitment to carbon neutral solutions, APCOA’s charging infrastructure will run primarily on green energy.

In this context, the decision by the European Parliament to ban sales of new cars with combustion engines from 2035 is a highly significant development. A recent study from the market analysts at Dynata confirms that consumers are increasingly willing to choose an electric vehicle, even in countries that have so far been somewhat reluctant to make the transition: 64 per cent of Germans expressed an interest in buying an electric or hybrid vehicle.

Furthermore, numerous countries have already enacted regulations to equip up to 30 per cent of public parking areas with EV charging stations, which will need to be implemented over the next few years. APCOA will work in partnership with its clients, the owners of the parking facilities, to deliver the roll out of these charging facilities, upgrading the energy grid where necessary, to offer EV users an optimal charging experience in accordance with their needs and expected parking time.

To date, around 2,500 EV charging stations are available in car parks operated by APCOA. Based on data collected from these charging stations, APCOA expects the demand for charging stations to further increase significantly in the near future as the number of EVs continues to grow. The business generated by this new charging infrastructure aligns well with APCOA’s core parking business. It offers users attractive value-added functionality and complements the wide range of additional services in the fields of urban logistics, mobility, and technology services. The offering is being provided on a site-specific basis under the APCOA URBAN HUBS brand.

“We firmly believe in the future of electric mobility, which stands to make an important contribution on the net zero journey. Therefore, we are creating the necessary infrastructure to play our part in meeting the international decarbonisation targets. As a company, we strive to shape our growth sustainably to create a liveable and green future. In recent years, we have continuously worked to implement a wide range of ESG measures and have combined our sustainability activities in a group-wide ESG program. In doing so, all measures are aligned with the UN Global Compact agreement to which APCOA is a signatory”, says Philippe Op de Beeck.

Contact:
APCOA PARKING Holdings GmbH
Sebastian Merkle
Flughafenstr. 34
70624 Stuttgart-Airport
T: +49 711-94791-0
 

About APCOA PARKING Group

APCOA PARKING Group is Europe's leading parking operator with more than 50 years of industry expertise. With its 5,000 employees, the company manages more than 1.8 million individual parking spaces at over 12,000 locations that are easily accessible to 70 per cent of the population in 13 European countries. With its consistent "asset light" business model, APCOA is the trusted partner who maximises value for private and public real estate owners.

Via its open digital platform, APCOA FLOW, the company connects on-street and off-street car parks with owners, partners, customers and their vehicles. Based on this technology, APCOA is transforming its car parks into urban hubs, creating the physical and digital infrastructure for mobility, logistics, EV charging and a wide range of innovative services that enable a more convenient mobility experience. The environment also benefits: With its digital services and intelligent Traffic Management System, the company actively contributes to the reduction of emissions in cities by decreasing the volume of logistics traffic and vehicles searching for parking. By connecting parking, mobility, and services for urban living, APCOA is positioned to become an integral part of the digital and physical Smart City ecosystem.

www.apcoa.com

• In the future, a command from a smartphone will tell cars where to park in Stuttgart Airport’s P6 parking garage.
• The new Mercedes-Benz S-Class is equipped with the technology to enable driverless, fully automated parking (SAE Level 4¹).
• For AVP, Bosch is using camera-based infrastructure for the first time to detect lanes and obstacles.
• The parking garage operator Apcoa is testing barrier and payment functions as the basis for automated valet parking, enabled by its APCOA FLOW digital mobility platform.

Stuttgart, 12 October 2020 – APCOA PARKING (APCOA), Europe’s leading parking space operator, has launched APCOA URBAN HUBS to create an integrated ecosystem for the innovative and sustainable use of parking spaces. While APCOA’s strategic partners benefit from being able to access the physical infrastructure and digital services they need to further develop their business models, APCOA PARKING’s customers benefit from an expanded range of innovative services and products. With APCOA serving as the central interface between individual, intermodal mobility and Smart City concepts, in combination with APCOA’s strong network of strategic partners, real estate owners also benefit by sustainably enhancing the value of their assets.

Automated parking to drive down the airport stress: Bosch, Mercedes-Benz, and the parking garage operator Apcoa want to introduce driverless and fully automated parking at Stuttgart airport in the future. To this end, the automated valet parking (AVP) system co-developed by Bosch and Mercedes-Benz is to be made ready for commercial operation. The new Mercedes-Benz S-Class is already geared up to accommodate it as the world’s first production vehicle to feature the technology required for future infrastructure-based AVP. As an option, customers can buy the appropriate pre-installation for what the company calls the INTELLIGENT PARK PILOT, which makes the S-Class capable of receiving a smartphone command to drive itself to a reserved parking space. “With the new S-Class, it’s not just driving that’s a luxury, but parking as well,” says Dr. Michael Hafner, head of automated driving at Mercedes-Benz AG. The P6 parking garage at Stuttgart airport will serve as the pilot for the planned commercial automated parking service. Here, the companies will test how the vehicle technology onboard the S-Class interacts with the intelligent Bosch infrastructure and APCOA FLOW, the digital platform provided by the parking garage operator Apcoa.
This platform makes the whole parking process ticketless and cashless. “Apcoa, Bosch, Mercedes-Benz, and Stuttgart airport want to work together to make parking fully automatic,” says Christoph Hartung, member of the executive management of Connected Mobility Solutions at Bosch. In the airport parking garage, preparations are currently underway to begin piloting the planned automated valet parking service. The aim of this trial with new S-Class vehicles at Stuttgart airport is to ensure that interactions between the vehicle, infrastructure technology, and parking garage operator run smoothly and are optimized for the customer.

World’s first Level 4 park function in a production vehicle
In July 2019, Bosch and Mercedes-Benz received the world’s first special permit to operate AVP for selected E-Class vehicles without a safety driver in real-life, mixed parking garage traffic at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. Equipped with the appropriate pre-installation for the INTELLIGENT PARK PILOT, the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class is now the first production vehicle to feature AVP technology, which enables it to park without a driver. However, this is conditional on the future availability of parking garages with the appropriate infrastructure, as well as on national legislators giving AVP the green light. This makes the Mercedes-Benz S-Class the world’s first vehicle to feature a pre-installation for an SAE Level 4 automated driving function, the second-highest level of automation. “With automated valet parking, Mercedes-Benz is demonstrating that driverless parking will soon be possible,” Hafner says.

To facilitate this new one-touch parking function, a spacious drop-off and pick-up area will be set up directly behind the entrance to the P6 parking garage, giving AVP users a convenient place to leave their vehicles. As they comfortably make their way to the terminal and check in, their S-Class will park itself in the basement, guided by information from the infrastructure technology. In other words, users no longer need to worry about maneuvering or having to squeeze out of their cars when the space they have finally found proves to be too narrow. “Automated valet parking really enhances our passengers’ comfort and convenience and saves them time, especially when they’re in a hurry and just want to drop their car off quickly at the airport”, says Walter Schoefer, management spokesman for Flughafen Stuttgart GmbH. For the test phase that is about to start, P6 will initially have two spaces available for self-parking vehicles. More spaces will be added when driverless parking becomes standard as planned in the future and as demand increases.

Intelligent infrastructure and digital platforms
The pilot parking garage at Stuttgart airport will be a premiere for new Bosch video cameras that can identify vacant parking spaces, monitor the driving aisle and its surroundings, and detect obstacles or people in the aisle. Until now, lidar sensors have been used for this purpose. A dedicated control center in the parking garage then calculates the route the vehicles need to take to reach an available space. “Our intelligent parking garage infrastructure forms the basis for the future of driverless parking,” Hartung says. Thanks to the information that the cameras provide, it is also possible for cars to drive themselves around the parking garage – even on narrow ramps, enabling them to move between different stories. The in-vehicle technology autonomously converts the information from the infrastructure into driving maneuvers. If the cameras detect an unexpected obstacle, for example, the vehicle safely performs an emergency stop.

APCOA FLOW, the parking garage operator Apcoa’s digital platform, will also play a key role in driverless parking at Stuttgart airport. Drivers are already using the platform to help lighten the burden of parking. This ranges from making firm reservations for a parking space, to contactless entry into the parking garage, and to fully automated payment, invoicing, and contactless exit. The system recognizes the customer’s vehicle and the barriers open automatically, making a ticket and trip to the ticket machine redundant. “We want to be the first parking garage operator to fully support and enable automated parking services based on AVP technology in one of our parking garages,” says Frank van der Sant, chief commercial officer at Apcoa Parking Holdings GmbH.

More vehicles, more parking garages
A vehicle drop-off and collection service saves time and avoids long walks to the car: once parking garages are equipped with the appropriate infrastructure and national laws permit AVP, customers will be able to enjoy driverless parking services. Bosch and Mercedes-Benz are paving the way for this with the world’s first infrastructure-based solution for SAE Level 4 automated valet parking in real-life, mixed parking garage traffic. Uniform standards and interfaces ensure smooth communication between the vehicles and infrastructure technology. In the future, Bosch’s aim is to equip more and more parking garages with AVP infrastructure technology.

As Europe’s largest parking garage operator, Apcoa also has a strategic interest in offering innovative premium services like AVP in more of its parking garages. “Looking ahead, we want to open up AVP to more customers at selected Apcoa locations,” van der Sant says. The company manages approximately 1.5 million individual parking spaces at over 9,500 locations in 13 European countries. By increasing the availability of driverless and fully automated parking services, the same amount of space could accommodate up to 20 percent more vehicles. In addition, driverless parking is especially suitable for narrow, remote, and therefore unattractive parking areas that people would otherwise avoid.

¹SAE-Level 4: The car can autonomously handle all traffic situations under certain conditions (e.g. on selected roads, not in all types of weather). No driver is required

Contact:
APCOA PARKING Holdings GmbH
Sebastian Merkle
Flughafenstr. 34
70624 Stuttgart-Airport
T: +49 711-94791-0

About APCOA PARKING Group
APCOA PARKING Group is Europe's leading parking operator with more than 45 years of industry expertise. With its 5,000 employees, the company manages approximately 1.4 million individual parking spaces at over 10,000 locations in 13 European countries. These include parking spaces at 1,800 city and shopping centre locations, 400 hotels, 150 hospitals and 58 European airports. With its consistent "asset light" business model, APCOA is the trusted partner who maximizes value for private and public real estate owners
Via its open digital platform APCOA FLOW, the company connects on-street and off-street car parks with clients, partners, customers and their vehicles. Based on this technology, APCOA is transforming its car parks into mobility hubs, offering innovative services that enable a more convenient mobility experience. The environment also benefits: with its digital services and intelligent Traffic Management System, the company actively contributes to the reduction of emissions in cities by decreasing the volume of traffic searching for parking. By connecting parking and mobility, APCOA is positioned to become an integral part of the Smart City.
www.apcoa.com 
 
Additional information:
World first: Bosch and Daimler obtain approval for driverless parking without human oversight
Bosch and Daimler demonstrate driverless parking in real-life conditions.

Stuttgart/Berlin/Essen, 2 March 2020 – APCOA PARKING, innogy and UFODRIVE today opened the first UFODRIVE hub in the APCOA multi-storey car park at the “Mall of Berlin” shopping centre in the heart of Berlin. From here, local customers and visitors to Berlin now have access to a zero-emission, innovative and flexible mobility service.

Intelligent electromobility solutions, such as hassle-free, app-enabled vehicle rental, are playing an increasingly important role in the context of digitalisation and sustainability for the urban mobility infrastructure. Last year, APCOA PARKING, innogy and UFODRIVE therefore decided to pool their resources and expertise to combine clean electric mobility with the best in convenience and customer service.

Now, UFODRIVE is opening its first location in the German capital in the centrally located APCOA car park in the shopping centre “Mall of Berlin”. With a fleet of premium Tesla vehicles, UFODRIVE’s customers can now arrive at the bay with just their smartphones and the app and drive away in a fully electric rental car. The bay’s charging infrastructure is provided and operated by innogy. The car park’s entry and exit barriers open automatically as the vehicles approach thanks to the APCOA FLOW RFID chips in each vehicle. The partners have seamlessly combined individual solutions to create an easy, innovative and customer-centric car rental experience that makes a major contribution to the sustainable transformation of urban mobility.

“In terms of sustainable urban development, the car park of the future has a crucial role to play”, says Philippe op de Beeck, CEO of the APCOA PARKING Group. In addition to providing the necessary parking spaces, centrally located car parks also provide the ideal base for intelligent shared mobility solutions. “By partnering with UFODRIVE and innogy, we are taking electric mobility one step further”. As well as providing the parking spaces for the UFObay, APCOA PARKING’s digital parking service, APCOA FLOW, also represents an essential building block in creating a seamless digital experience for UFODRIVE customers.

“With UFODRIVE.COM and our fleet of fully electric Tesla vehicles, we are bringing clean, instant, 24/7 electric car rental to private and business travellers in Berlin. After successful openings in Cologne and Hamburg, it was only logical that we should also launch our app-based car rental service in Berlin. We are looking forward to providing all of our Berlin customers with a best-in-class, attractive and innovative rental offer”, explains Aidan McClean, CEO of UFODRIVE. The start-up rents out purely electric Tesla Model S and Model 3 vehicles conveniently and easily via app and has already opened UFO Landing Bays in eight countries.

“Car parks have a central role to play, not only in the urban energy transition, but also in the expansion of electromobility and public charging infrastructure. Through this partnership, we are providing a glimpse of the city of the future and proving that the digitalisation of infrastructure and the expansion of electromobility can improve people’s quality of life”, says Dr. Armin Gaul, Head of Technical Development at innogy SE. The car park’s charging infrastructure is operated by the energy company innogy, which uses green electricity and innovative charging management to ensure that vehicles are always charged and ready for customers to simply arrive and drive.

The new electric vehicle rental bay in the “Mall of Berlin” is just the beginning for the three partners. Plans are already in place to establish a network of electric vehicle rental hubs in Germany and internationally. APCOA and innogy are also aiming to equip a large number of APCOA car parks with public charging infrastructure, thereby enabling electric car owners to simultaneously park and charge their vehicles. The partners’ proposals are designed to promote the expansion of eMobility across the whole of Germany and include the widespread deployment of sensor technology and value-added digital services across APCOA’s pan-European car park network. Thanks to the visionary partnership the car park of the future will be a central element of the smart city.

Part of the offer is APCOA FLOW: The free parking app makes it easier for business customers and regular drivers to use more than 200 selected APCOA car parks. They benefit from easy and convenient ticketless access and no longer have to make sure they have the right change for the pay machine. Users can decide whether they want to pay by credit or debit card and are automatically billed for the parking services they use. Billing is entirely transparent and users can review the costs of their parking transactions in the app and by email.

About APCOA PARKING Group
APCOA PARKING Group is Europe's leading parking operator with more than 45 years of industry expertise. With its 5,000 employees, the company manages approximately 1.5 million individual parking spaces at over 9,500 locations in 13 European countries. These include parking spaces at 1,800 city and shopping centre locations, 400 hotels, 150 hospitals and 58 European airports. With its consistent “asset light” business model, APCOA is the trusted partner who maximises value for private and public real estate owners.

Via its open digital platform, APCOA FLOW, the company connects on-street and off-street car parks with clients, partners, customers and their vehicles. Based on this technology, APCOA is transforming its car parks into mobility hubs, offering innovative services that enable a more convenient mobility experience. The environment also benefits: with its digital services and intelligent Traffic Management System, the company actively contributes to the reduction of emissions in cities by decreasing the volume of traffic searching for parking. By connecting parking and mobility, APCOA is positioned to become an integral part of the Smart City.

Contact: APCOA PARKING Holdings GmbH, Sebastian Merkle, e-mail: sebastian.merkle(at)apcoa.eu;  phone: +49 711-94791-0; www.apcoa.com

 
About UFODRIVE
UFODRIVE is a start-up company founded in Luxembourg that provides an all-digital, all-electric car rental solution. Customers can book premium all-electric vehicles via the UFODRIVE website or app and arrive, unlock and drive via their smartphones with the UFODRIVE app.

The company’s solutions are designed for both private and business travellers and UFODRIVE is already available in many major European cities, including Dublin, London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, Luxembourg, Hamburg, Cologne and Berlin. The company’s UFObay rental and return hubs are primarily located at airports and central transport interchanges within each city.

Press photos and additional information are available at: www.ufodrive.com/press; www.ufodrive.com

Contact: Jens Stoewhase; e-Mail: pr(at)rabbit-publishing.net; mobile: +49 151 275 33 262

 
About innogy SE
innogy SE is a leading German energy company with a turnover of around 37 billion euros (2018) and around 43,000 employees. With its three divisions, Renewable Energies, Grid & Infrastructure, and Sales, innogy addresses the requirements of a modern decarbonised, decentralised and digital energy world. The company’s approximately 22 million customers are at the heart of everything innogy does. innogy strives to offer its customers innovative and sustainable products and services with which they can use energy more efficiently and improve their quality of life. The company’s most important markets are Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as a number of countries in Central Eastern and South Eastern Europe, in particular the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. With a total capacity of 4.0 gigawatts, innogy also generates electricity from renewable energies outside these regions, e. g. in Spain, Italy and the USA. As an innovation leader in future-oriented topics such as eMobility, innogy is also represented in international technology hotspots such as Silicon Valley, Tel Aviv and Berlin. innogy combines the broad know-how of its energy technicians and engineers with digital technology partners – from start-ups to large corporations.

Contact: Sarah Schaffers; email: sarah.schaffers(at)innogy.com; mobile: +49-152-54951481; www.innogy.com 

HERE Navigation On-Demand is OEM-ready with APCOA as partner
• HERE Navigation On-Demand is now available for integration in OEM infotainment programs
• APCOA is the first non-automotive company to use the Service Package SDK to make its parking services available on HERE Navigation On-Demand

Las Vegas, CES 2020 – HERE Technologies today announces that its software-as-a-service solution HERE Navigation On-Demand is available for integration in OEM infotainment programs. With HERE Navigation On-Demand, OEMs and Tier 1 vendors get to deliver both connected services and expandable navigation experiences on both embedded and mobile platforms.
This connected solution cuts development and lifecycle costs by offering cutting-edge, off-the-shelf functionalities while enabling OEMs and Tier 1 vendors to use an SDK to build their own features or integrate third party services. As a software-as-a-service offering, HERE Navigation On-Demand enables OEMs to remotely configure and monitor the deployed navigation solution making it possible to update and upgrade the experience anytime, even after the sale of the vehicle.
OEMs can further offer any functionality as a subscription option and thus generate new, recurring revenue streams. The end-user accesses the navigation experience through client software which downloads the Service Packages from the cloud. The highly modular Service Packages include map data, software features, UX elements and references to Cloud Service APIs. Smart caching of these Service Packages ensures that HERE Navigation On-Demand also works offline. Last but not least, Alexa, Amazon’s cloud-based voice service, is pre-integrated into HERE Navigation On-Demand, making it faster and easier for automakers to deliver an intuitive, voice-first navigation experience to customers in the car.
“HERE Navigation On-Demand is very good news for OEMs, Tier 1 vendors and independent service providers. It brings together off-the-shelf navigation and connected services with proprietary services. It also combines the full features of embedded navigation with the UX of a mobile navigation application. At HERE Technologies, we offer our customers the best of both worlds while giving them the flexibility to design and manage their own user experience”, says Kilian Frank, Product Manager for HERE Navigation On-Demand.
APCOA PARKING, Europe’s leading parking operator, is the first non-automotive company to use the Service Package SDK. Through its open, digital and scalable platform APCOA FLOW, APCOA integrates its services onto HERE Navigation On-Demand. FLOW provides booking, frictionless access, payment and discounts for on- and off-street parking spaces in 7 European markets. Drivers using FLOW will benefit from a convenient mobility and parking experience.

“We are excited to embed APCOA FLOW onto the HERE Navigation On-Demand solution. It offers us the opportunity to become a third-party developer for OEMs and to bring the FLOW experience directly to the in-car navigation systems of millions of customers. OEMs, on the other hand, are able to enrich their customer proposition with a comprehensive on- and off-street parking solution”, says Xavier Vallée, Chief Marketing Officer at APCOA PARKING.

“We are proud to announce that HERE Navigation On-Demand has been successfully used by a third-party to provide additional services to the end users of OEMs. This is an acknowledgement of the hard work we put into HERE Navigation On-Demand. The conditions are now set for many other partners to join”, says Kilian Frank, Product Manager for HERE Navigation On-Demand.

Media Contacts

James Overstall
+49 17 15 33 44 18
James.overstall(at)here.com

Jordan Stark
+1 312 316 4537
Jordan.stark(at)here.com

Sebastian Merkle
+49 711 947 916 52
Sebastian.merkle(at)apcoa.eu

About HERE Technologies
HERE, a location data and technology platform, moves people, businesses and cities forward by harnessing the power of location. By leveraging our open platform, we empower our customers to achieve better outcomes - from helping a city manage its infrastructure or a business optimize its assets to guiding drivers to their destination safely. To learn more about HERE, please visit www.here.com and http://360.here.com.

About APCOA PARKING Group 
APCOA PARKING Group is Europe’s leading parking operator with more than 45 years of industry expertise. With its 5,000 employees, the company manages approximately 1.5 million individual parking spaces at over 9,500 locations in 13 European countries. Via its open digital platform APCOA FLOW, the company connects on-street and off-street car parks with clients, partners, customers and their vehicles. Based on this technology, APCOA is transforming its car parks into mobility hubs, offering innovative services that enable a more convenient mobility experience. www.apcoa.com

• Collaboration leads to digital customer solutions for connecting parking with consumer mobility
• Technology to integrate parking equipment with cloud based IoT to bring all APCOA parking lots across 13 countries onto a standard, interoperable platform
• Open platform will enable new partnerships and business models across smart city and connected mobility ecosystem
• Recently launched APCOA FLOW app in Germany is the first of the many outputs to be powered by this platform

Stuttgart/Delhi, 30 May 2018 - APCOA PARKING, Europe’s leading parking operator, has entered into a strategic partnership with GET MY PARKING (GMP), India’s principal smart parking startup, to customize and deploy an open IoT platform that provides a seamless mobility experience across all parking touchpoints. This digital platform will be scaled to all 13 countries in which APCOA operates more than 1.4 million car spaces at over 9000 locations. It is an interoperable platform, integrating varied parking equipment and connecting parking spaces to cars to create an overall mobility experience. This enables APCOA to provide the latest consumer solutions such as their recently launched mobile app APCOA FLOW (www.apcoa.de/flow), which includes ticketless automated access and cashless exit and will soon be enhanced by pre-booking options and on-street parking payment functions.

Innovative digital platform APCOA FLOW sets new benchmarks for European parking industry.

• New app makes parking quicker, easier and more convenient: No tickets. No cash. No stress.
• Available at 200 selected car parks with more than 100,000 parking spaces across Germany at launch
• Additional functions such as reservation and booking of parking spaces, as well as payment for on-street parking in the pipeline
• APCOA plans roll-out in 12 further European markets
• Open, central and scalable platform for all of Europe enables new partnerships and business models in the smart city ecosystem
• RFID chip connects cars and car parks to create the most comprehensive, truly connected car offering in Germany

Stuttgart, 3 May 2018 – APCOA PARKING, Europe’s leading parking facility manager, has successfully launched its new app, APCOA FLOW (apcoa.de/flow), which is based on the company’s proprietary digital platform for all European markets. At launch, customers can seamlessly enter, leave and make cashless payments without the need for tickets at 200 selected APCOA car parks with more than 100,000 parking spaces across Germany. The app also serves as a navigation system, identifying and guiding the driver to the most convenient car park for their final destination. Thanks to RFID technology, the car park recognizes the vehicle and opens the barriers automatically. This means that parking tickets, the hunt for spare change and the need to queue at a pay station are all a thing of the past.

“APCOA FLOW opens up an entirely new digital parking experience which is unique in this form: The combination of new services and a large number of car parks across the whole of Germany, combined with the open, central and scalable digital platform behind it, make APCOA FLOW the most comprehensive connected car offering in the parking sector. We are setting completely new standards for the entire industry,” said Philippe Op de Beeck, CEO of APCOA PARKING Group. The company is now planning to equip all of APCOA’s 300 or so car parks in Germany with APCOA FLOW, thereby making more than 230,000 parking spaces more easily accessible to customers throughout the country.

Parking becomes a seamless extension of individual mobility

“We are very proud to have created APCOA FLOW, a system that is, at launch, already the most comprehensive smart parking solution for car parks in Germany. With the app and platform, we are revolutionising our customers’ parking experience. Thanks to APCOA FLOW, parking becomes a seamless extension of the mobility experience for the very first time. With APCOA FLOW, we are offering our users more comfort, a greater sense of security and, ultimately, freedom and time for the more important things in life,” explained Detlef Wilmer, Managing Director of APCOA PARKING Deutschland GmbH.

Customers can download the APCOA FLOW app from both the Google PlayStore and App Store, register their account and order their personal APCOA FLOW RFID chip for their windscreen. It is this RFID technology that automatically opens a car park’s barriers as the car approaches. Every single parking process is precisely recorded by the system and charged to the registered credit card. Customers can view their accounts at any time, thanks to the system’s completely transparent overview of all parking processes.

The user begins by entering their destination, at which point the app quickly and intuitively displays the nearest APCOA FLOW car parks. Once the user has selected the most convenient car park, the app navigates them directly to their destination. APCOA FLOW makes it easy to park anywhere, even in a city the driver has little or no knowledge of. The app displays prices, opening hours and capacity of parking spaces in each car park, along with other useful information, such as accessibility, access heights and the availability of EV charging stations.

Wilmer sums up the app’s advantages: “APCOA FLOW makes parking quicker and more convenient: Simply park. No ticket. No cash. No stress.”

New partnerships, further functions and pan-European launch

Equipped with an API interface, the digital platform’s enhanced compatibility means that a large number of new services and partnerships can be launched in the near future. The first comprehensive cooperation agreement was concluded with sunhill technologies GmbH, a subsidiary of Volkswagen Financial Services AG (VWFS). As a result of this partnership, VW Group customers can now enjoy contactless entry and exit and automated payment processing.

“VW is the first automobile manufacturer to join APCOA on our strategic journey to the future of parking. Thanks to our RFID chips, customers' vehicles are networked with our car parks, which makes FLOW the most widely available, truly connected car service on the market,” added Op de Beeck.

APCOA is currently in talks with car sharing service providers, car rental companies and electric vehicle charging station operators. Parcel delivery services can also be easily integrated into the app, making the parking experience even more convenient. For owners who operate their own car parks and do not want to bear the significant investment costs of developing such a system themselves, APCOA’s innovative platform offers a future-proof digital solution.

Latest NewsAt the same time, the company is working on expanding its own service portfolio. “And the range of functions offered by APCOA FLOW at launch is just the beginning – we have designed the system so that additional services can be easily added and flexibly integrated. This will allow us to continually expand the range of services we offer our customers, thereby ensuring that we are ideally equipped for the future,” says Philippe Op de Beeck, CEO of APCOA PARKING Group. Specifically, the reservation and advance booking of parking spaces, as well as the integration of barrier-free parking areas and street parking spaces are in progress.

Following the successful market launch in Germany, the system will soon be rolled out in other European countries, starting with Italy, then Sweden, Austria and Norway. By 2019, customers in each of APCOA’S 13 European markets should be able to use the new service.

Disruption in the parking industry: seizing the opportunity of digitalisation

“APCOA FLOW is our answer to key societal trends, such as urbanisation and digitalisation, and to the emergence of entirely new mobility concepts that are changing the economic fundamentals of the parking industry. The specially developed platform and app are the fruits of intensive collaboration with our German suppliers and an Indian start-up company. In conjunction with the open, centralised and scalable platform, the app is an important step in transforming APCOA PARKING into an even more customer-oriented company. Our goal is to help shape the future of individual mobility,” explained Op de Beeck.

The aim of the new system is to offer customer-focused services while at the same time contributing to the smart city ecosystem with innovative solutions to help meet the many challenges facing modern cities: from cutting CO2 emissions by significantly reducing the volume of vehicles searching for parking spaces, to controlling traffic flows and seamlessly integrating different forms of mobility using intelligent digital solutions such as APCOA FLOW.

For more information on APCOA FLOW, visit the website: apcoa.de/flow

Contact:

APCOA PARKING Holdings GmbH
Sebastian Merkle
Flughafenstr. 34
70624 Stuttgart-Airport
T: +49 711-94791-100

About APCOA PARKING Group

APCOA PARKING Group is Europe’s leading parking management company with more than 45 years of industry expertise. APCOA Group’s 5,000 employees manage approximately 1.4 million individual parking spaces at over 9,000 locations in 13 European countries. These include parking spaces at 1,800 city and shopping centre locations, 400 hotels, 150 hospitals and 58 European airports. With its consistent “asset light” business model, APCOA is a trusted partner for private and public real estate owners.

APCOA’s advanced IT platform is the interface between its car parks, business customers, partners, car drivers and their vehicles. Thus, APCOA is able to offer its business and end customers innovative services and products to improve the efficiency and comfort of their mobility experience. In addition to the company’s customers, these innovative services also create environmental benefits: APCOA actively contributes to reducing CO2 emissions in cities and at traffic intersections by reducing the volume of traffic searching for parking spaces with the aid of digital services and the company’s intelligent traffic management system.

Berlin, June 28, 2016– A quick glance at your smartphone or in-car navigation system and you know just where to find the nearest on- and off-street parking spaces. A simple tap on the screen and your nearby space is reserved. Electric car drivers, who now make up a large proportion of traffic, are allocated a space with a charging station. What might sound like a distant, science fiction vision will actually be commonplace in the next couple of years. In contrast, car drivers will be waiting up to ten years for fully-automated parking. These were among the expert predictions made by leading figures from the automotive and parking management industries at the 3rd APCOA PARKING Mobility Summit, in Berlin on 28 June, 2016. Gathering under the banner “Disrupt or be disrupted”, international business representatives joined with eminent scientists and academics to discuss the challenges of mobility in response to the digitalisation of the automotive and parking management sectors.

One thing is certain: Parking facilities will change fundamentally in the very near future. Digitalisation is going to have a significant impact on both the automotive and parking management industries,” said Philippe Op de Beeck, CEO of the APCOA PARKING Group, Europe's leading parking manager.

Big Data is set to play an increasingly central role in these developments. Alex Israel, from Inrix Inc., presented a technical system that uses Big Data to generate forecasts of parking facility occupancy patterns. This will dramatically reduce the number of drivers circling the streets looking for parking spaces, traffic that currently makes up around 30% of all cars on the road in urban centres.

Dr. Rolf Nicodemus, Project Vice President, Connected Parking at the Robert Bosch GmbH, explored the concept of automated parking. Driverless parking is already possible in facilities with network connectivity, allowing space in car parks to be used 20% more efficiently.

More power for end-users
More and more cities are imposing limits on the number of cars allowed to enter their central districts as they look to reduce emissions, traffic volumes and noise levels. The proportion of paid parking spaces will increase as free parking facilities are reduced. At the same time, demand for parking assistance systems, automated car parks and intelligent driver assistance systems will grow in response, explained the futurologist Alexander Mankowsky.

”It is already the case that nine out of ten drivers plan extra time into their journeys for finding a parking space at their destination. This costs them between 10 and 30 minutes per car journey, depending on which city or neighbourhood they are in. All in all, this adds up to significant number of wasted days per year, just spent on finding parking spaces,” explained Dr. Dietmar Geppert, Director Marketing & Sales at APCOA PARKING Holdings GmbH.

As a result, Geppert believes that drivers are now prepared to pay more for centrally located parking spaces. “As more and more parking spaces are networked, drivers will be able to use apps to select the parking spaces they want. This will give more power to consumers and allow an increased number of ancillary services to be provided in future,” continued Geppert.

The evolving car park
What this range of ancillary services might look like in future was the subject of Op de Beeck's address: “Just a few years from now, the world will be very different. It will be hybrid and electric cars that fill our streets.” Today, one quarter of the new cars sold in Norway are electric vehicles. And a ban on the registration of new combustion engine cars from the year 2025 is being seriously considered in the Netherlands and Norway. “Car parks will become interesting sites for charging stations,” observed Op de Beeck.

”Urbanisation and digitalisation are the two mega trends of our age. Although they present challenges, they also offer great possibilities for connected mobility. We have an amazing opportunity to elevate customer service and customer relations to an entirely new level,” said Op de Beeck.

Kirkland, WA / Stuttgart, Germany – July 6, 2017 – INRIX, Inc., the world leader in connected car services and movement analytics, and APCOA PARKING Group, the largest European parking operator, today announced a major new partnership to exchange parking information.

This new deal strengthens INRIX’s parking offering and means its customers, who already benefit from the world’s largest parking database, will also have access to APCOA’s comprehensive parking data for Europe.

The deal with APCOA is the only one of its kind in Europe and will provide INRIX with access to information from 1.4 million parking spaces at over 9,000 locations in 13 countries. This will feed into the INRIX Off-Street Parking service, enhancing this offering beyond any competing service to give European drivers the best possible parking experience. Existing INRIX customers will have their data updated with the additional information, and new customers will have the enhanced data available from launch, enabling all partners with the ability tackle one of the biggest problems in mobility.

“Parking remains a key issue for drivers and cities across the globe and is a major cause of traffic congestion. We have seen lots of innovation in navigation but finding parking at your destination is a problem that still needs solving,” said Alex Israel, General Manager and Vice President, Parking, INRIX. “This deal is a first in Europe and access to APCOA’s parking information enables INRIX to provide automakers with the most comprehensive solution available, helping to address the growing challenge of parking in cities by allowing drivers to navigate to available spaces quickly and conveniently.

” Through the seamless integration of data from the INRIX Parking database of 100,000 locations across 8,700 cities in more than 100 countries, drivers in Europe who rely on APCOA’s services and applications will benefit from enhanced parking information and an increased level of convenience. As a result, APCOA intends to improve the quality of its consumer relationships substantially.

“This deal marks a turning point in the parking, automotive and mobility industries,” said Philippe Op de Beeck, CEO, APCOA Parking Group. “We have joined forces with INRIX to enhance our digital services and improve the search for parking, which ultimately helps cities, the environment and of course drivers. Big data is set to have an increasing impact on the automotive and parking management industries, and this partnership will enable us to make parking more user-friendly and accessible for our customers.

” This announcement builds on momentum for INRIX in the parking space such as the launch of INRIX Off-Street Parking in the Mercedes-Benz E-Class. Mercedes-Benz joins a growing list of automaker customers who benefit from INRIX Parking services, including BMW, Lexus, and Toyota. INRIX launched the industry’s first dynamic off-street parking service in 2013, followed by the first integrated on-street parking solution in June 2015. In August 2015, INRIX acquired ParkMe, a leader in parking location, availability and reservations worldwide. The company was recognized by leading automotive research firm SBD for its comprehensive and accurate parking data in the U.S. and Europe. 

About APCOA PARKING Group

APCOA PARKING Group is the leading full-service parking management company in Europe. The company has over 45 years of experience and expertise in 13 European countries and an extensive portfolio of clients. Amongst them, more than 30 European airports have entrusted APCOA with the management of their parking facilities. The Group manages about 1.4 million individual parking spaces. In doing so, APCOA uses its international experience to deliver future-oriented and innovative mobility services to customers and property owners at over 9,000 locations. The company's 4,600 employees contribute their know-how and local expertise to deliver excellent services to customers and business clients. The Group's headquarters and German office are located in Stuttgart, Germany. www.apcoa.com.

About INRIX

INRIX is the global leader in connected car services and transportation analytics. Leveraging big data and the cloud, INRIX delivers comprehensive services and solutions to help move people, cities and businesses forward. Our partners are automakers, governments, mobile operators, developers, advertisers, as well as enterprises large and small.

INRIX Parking

INRIX Parking provides the world’s largest parking database with more than 35 million spaces in 100,000 locations spanning 8,700 cities in more than 100 countries. Addressing a key customer need, dynamic occupancy information is also available for nearly 20,000 lots spanning more than 2,000 cities in 67 countries. Additionally, the patented INRIX On-Street Parking service leverages machine learning to deliver ground-truth tested dynamic occupancy predictions in nearly 40 cities globally, covering more than 200,000 individual street segments. INRIX is the preferred provider of parking information and services to leading automakers and app providers such as BMW, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Microsoft Bing and Waze, as well as transportation agencies and drivers around the world.  

Media Contact

APCOA Parking Group 
Sebastian Merkle
+49 711-94791-0 
Sebastian.Merkle@apcoa.eu

• APCOA places EUR 435m of TLB, revolving and guarantee facilities in the European debt markets
• Initial issuer and instrument ratings of B+/B1

Stuttgart, 20. March 2017 – APCOA PARKING Group (“APCOA”), a leading full-service parking management company in Europe, announces the successful completion of the refinancing of its existing debt facilities.

A total of EUR 435 million of facilities were successfully placed with a selected number of institutional investors and banks and significantly oversubscribed in syndication. APCOA and the facilities have been rated B+ by Standard & Poor’s and B1 by Moody's Investors Service.

Steffen Baetjer, CFO of APCOA, said: “We are very satisfied with the strong investor and rating agency support. Our diversified and resilient business model, as well as the long-term nature of our contracts and client relationships translate into a favourable credit profile. I am glad that we were able to successfully execute this refinancing and secure a long-term financing package on attractive terms.”

Barclays Bank PLC, Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch and The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (trading as NatWest Markets) acted as Mandated Lead Arrangers and Joint Bookrunners on behalf of APCOA. Barclays acted as rating advisor and will be the agent and security agent on the new facilities.

 
Contact: 
APCOA PARKING Holdings GmbH
Sebastian Merkle
Flughafenstr. 34
70624 Stuttgart-Airport
T: +49 711-94791-100

About APCOA PARKING
APCOA PARKING Group is the leading full-service parking management company in Europe. The company has over 45 years of experience and expertise in 13 European countries and an extensive portfolio of clients. More than 30 European airports have entrusted APCOA with the management of their parking facilities.

APCOA Parking Group manages more than 1.4 million individual parking spaces. In doing so, APCOA uses its international experience to deliver future-oriented and innovative parking services to customers and property owners at over 9,000 locations. The company's 4,600 employees contribute international know-how and local expertise, and deliver new business and customized technical solutions. The Group's headquarters and German office are located in Stuttgart, Germany.

www.apcoa.com

Stuttgart, 15 December 2016 – This Christmas, APCOA PARKING Group is donating a total of 10,000 euros to the German medical aid organisation action medeor e.V., the largest medical aid organisation in Europe. The organisation operates as the world’s emergency medical supplier and has been working with local partners in 140 countries to provide healthcare and medical aid for more than 50 years.

APCOA’s donation specifically supports medical aid deliveries to Northern Iraq. The Debaga Camp for refugees within Iraq was opened in 2015, and currently accommodates in excess of 30,000 people. The camp’s mobile clinic represents the only access the region’s refugees have to proper healthcare. With its donation, APCOA is supporting action medeor in the provision of urgently needed medicines, such as painkillers and antibiotics, which will enable the treatment of chronic conditions and guarantee the provision of medical aid to women during pregnancy.

“APCOA is committed to fulfilling its corporate social responsibilities. With our donation we want to play our part in guaranteeing the provision of basic medical aid to refugees in the region,” said Philippe Op de Beeck, CEO of APCOA PARKING Group. The donation made by APCOA will secure the provision of medical aid to at least 5,000 refugees for three months.

Contact: 
APCOA PARKING Holdings GmbH
Sebastian Merkle
Flughafenstr. 34
70624 Stuttgart-Airport
T: +49 711-94791-0

About APCOA PARKING
APCOA PARKING Group is the leading full-service parking management company in Europe. The company has over 45 years of experience and expertise in 12 European countries and an extensive portfolio of clients. More than 30 European airports have entrusted APCOA with the management of their parking facilities.

APCOA Parking Group manages more than 1.4 million individual parking spaces. In doing so, APCOA uses its international experience to deliver future-oriented and innovative parking services to customers and property owners at over 8,700 locations. The company's 4,900 employees contribute international know-how and local expertise, and deliver new business and customised technical solutions. The group's headquarters and German office are in Stuttgart, Germany.

www.apcoa.com

• Philippe Op de Beeck joins as Chief Executive Officer on April 4
• Steffen Bätjer joins as Chief Financial Officer on March 1
• Ex-CEO Ralf Bender to support APCOA as Senior Advisor
  

Stuttgart, 1 March 2016 – APCOA PARKING Group, Europe’s leading parking services provider, has appointed Philippe Op de Beeck (54) as its new Chief Executive Officer. Furthermore, Steffen Bätjer (46) joins the company as CFO as of 1 March 2016.

Mr. Op de Beeck joins APCOA on April 4 and brings 25 years of experience in a range of pan-European and global companies. He joins from international catering company Compass Group, where the last three years he was Group Managing Director for Asia Pacific after two years in a similar role in Europe. Prior to this he was EMEA President at Gategroup, an airline services company, and Senior Vice President at automation manufacturer Swisslog. He has also held senior roles at Renault Credit International, Axus International, Hertz Rent a Car and Unilever. He has considerable experience in leading service business organisations, and a strong track record in driving profitable growth in contracting businesses, enhancing the full potential of the service offering for customers.

Mr. Bätjer joins APCOA from Techem, having spent over six years as CFO at the energy management solutions provider. Before his time at Techem, he held senior finance positions at WestLB and Universal Music, and started his career at management consultants McKinsey&Co. His experience in contract businesses, complemented by a strong commercial, strategic and analytical skill set is perfectly suited to help APCOA deliver its strategic growth plan.

Nick Buckles, Chairman of the advisory board of APCOA, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Philippe Op de Beeck and Steffen Bätjer to APCOA. Philippe has the proven capabilities required to drive exceptional business performance by creating strategic clarity, driving commercialisation and customer focus, while ensuring disciplined execution. Steffen brings a strong track record of delivering operational excellence and business transformations in contract businesses. We believe that their combined experience from leading service and contract business organisations will ensure that APCOA continues to be the European industry leader and deliver on our strategic targets.”

Philippe Op de Beeck said: “I am delighted to join APCOA as CEO and contribute my experience to grow and strengthen the company further. The business is well-positioned to capture new opportunities and I am confident that we have the team and resources to gain a greater foothold in our core European markets. I look forward to working with the APCOA team as we take the company to the next stage of development.”

Mr. Buckles added: “We thank outgoing CEO Ralf Bender and CFO Nicolas Reinhart for their important roles and their contributions to maintaining the stable platform and strong performance that APCOA has seen during the last year. We are grateful that Ralf will remain involved as a Senior Advisor to APCOA and that the company will continue to benefit from his experience. Nicolas will remain with the company until the end of March, ensuring a smooth handover to the new management team.”

Ralf Bender said: “After the successful recapitalization of APCOA in 2014 and the completion of the operational turnaround last year, I hand over a solid platform ready for further growth to Philippe Op de Beeck. Having navigated the company for the past five and a half years, I am now ready to approach new entrepreneurial challenges. At the same time, I am pleased to continue to support APCOA as a Senior Advisor going forward.”

Since its restructuring in 2014, APCOA has seen solid performance in revenues, profitability and cash flow. In 2015, EBITDA grew by about 7% to approx. EUR 59 million while EBIT rose by 20% to more than EUR 35 million. At the end of 2015, the company had a very healthy cash balance of more than EUR 50 million.

Contact:
APCOA PARKING Holdings GmbH
Sebastian Merkle
Flughafenstr. 34
D-70624 Stuttgart-Airport
T: +49 711-94791-0

About APCOA PARKING Group
The APCOA PARKING Group is Europe's leading parking facility operator. During over 40 years in the business, the Group has gathered know-how in 12 European countries and a wide-spread client portfolio. More than 30 European airports have contracted APCOA to manage their parking facilities. The APCOA PARKING Group manages over 1.4 million parking spots.

APCOA's international background lets customers and property owners benefit from trend-setting and innovative parking services at more than 8,700 locations. Based on international know-how, local expertise, and long-term experience, APCOA’s 4,900 staff deliver bespoke technical solutions to meet specific contract requirements. The Group headquarters and the German branch office are located at Stuttgart Airport.

www.apcoa.com

Stuttgart/Düsseldorf, Germany. November 29, 2024 – APCOA, the leading European car park operator, has won the German Sustainability Award (DNP) in the category Transport Infrastructure. APCOA was honoured for its Urban Hub concept. 

“We feel very honoured that APCOA and our Urban Hubs have been awarded the German Sustainability Award. This award emphasises that with smart concepts and the intelligent use of existing buildings we can transform our cities into a more sustainable environment for working and living, business and leisure,” says Frank van der Sant, Chief Commercial Officer of APCOA.

Niels Christ, Group Director Urban Hubs adds, “since the first idea of our Urban Hubs concept we have transformed over 500 car parks across 50 cities in 12 countries into mobility, logistics and charging hubs. These serve as logistics centers for last mile delivery, provide charging points for electric vehicles and function as pick-up and drop-off points for cars, e-scooters and e-bikes of mobility service providers.”    

Sustainable urban hubs from APCOA
With the Urban Hubs, the company is capitalising on its market-leading position with over 13,000 locations in Europe. For users of mobility services of all kinds, the car parks become important hubs that can be used 24/7, where you can park and charge, switch from a (shared) car to an e-scooter or back, pick up a delivered parcel from a locker board before continuing your journey or have your vehicle cleaned. Logistics service providers also use the areas as transshipment points, e.g. to consolidate several deliveries or to transfer to small electric vehicles for last-mile distribution. Based on APCOA’s digital platforms, the range of services and partners can be expanded as required and adapted to mobility developments and needs. The bundling of inner-city space, services and partners is unique in Europe.

APCOA officially launched its Urban Hub concept at the beginning of 2021 and has since implemented it at numerous international locations. Together with partners from the logistics, mobility and electric charging sectors, hubs for sustainable urban services have been created across Europe. Further locations are currently being set up and the company has ambitious plans for the future to further transform car park locations into urban hubs. In the future, the focus will also be on additional applications that are currently still dreams of the future: Drone logistics or autonomous electric charging.

The 17th German Sustainability Award
In 2024, the DNP once again honoured pioneering contributions to the transformation towards a sustainable future. A total of 100 companies will be honoured as part of the 17th DNP. The award uses the best examples to show how ecological and social progress can be achieved more quickly. It aims to motivate all key players to change, connect them across borders and encourage partnerships. The award is based on the goals of the 2030 Agenda and thus on the key areas of transformation such as climate, biodiversity, resources, supply chain and society. The DNP is awarded as part of the German Sustainability Day, which has become the leading congress on sustainability since 2008. The multi-stakeholder DNP project brings together all key players from politics, business, research and civil society. The diversity of institutional partners with different perspectives is reflected in the Foundation's Board of Trustees, but also in the methodology team, the jury and the circle of speakers at the events.

Contact

APCOA Group:
Sebastian Merkle
Flughafenstr. 34
70624 Stuttgart-Airport
Tel.: +49 711 94791-652

About APCOA 

APCOA is Europe's leading parking operator with more than 50 years of industry expertise. With its 5,000 employees, the Group manages more than 1.6 million individual parking spaces at 13,000 locations in 12 European countries. The company is active in the areas of parking, charging, technologies and urban solutions. With its consistent “asset light” business model, APCOA is a trusted partner, maximising value for private and public real estate owners.

Via its open digital platform, APCOA FLOW, the company connects on-street and off-street car parks with owners, partners, customers and their vehicles. Based on this technology, APCOA is transforming its car parks into urban hubs, creating the physical and digital infrastructure for mobility, logistics, EV charging and a wide range of innovative services that enable a more convenient mobility experience. 

The environment also benefits: With its digital services and intelligent Traffic Management System, the company actively contributes to the reduction of emissions in cities by decreasing the volume of logistics traffic and vehicles searching for parking. By connecting parking, mobility, and proximity services for urban living, APCOA is positioned to become an integral part of the digital and physical Smart City ecosystem.

www.apcoa.com
www.urban-hubs.com

Stuttgart, November 30th 2022 – Bosch and Mercedes-Benz have reached an important milestone on the way to automated driving: Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) has approved their highly automated parking system for use in the P6 parking garage run by APCOA at Stuttgart Airport. This makes it the world’s first highly automated driverless parking function to SAE Level 41 to be officially approved for commercial use. The technological advancement of automated driving plays a key role in the mobility of the future. With the vehicle and infrastructure taking over driving and maneuvering, drivers will be able to turn their attention to other things, instead of time spent looking for a parking space and maneuvering in tight parking garages.

“The world’s first approval for customer use of our highly automated and driverless parking function, developed together with our technology partner Bosch, shows that innovation leadership and ‘Made in Germany’ go hand in hand,” says Markus Schäfer, member of the board of management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, chief technology officer, responsible for development and procurement. “Following the market launch of our DRIVE PILOT Level 3 system, we will soon be offering a Level 4 system for parking with our INTELLIGENT PARK PILOT – all of that this year. We really are showing our customers how technology can make life easier and give back precious time.”

“Driverless parking is a key aspect of automated mobility. The highly automated parking system we developed together with our partner Mercedes-Benz shows just how far we’ve already progressed along this development path. It will be with driverless parking that everyday automated driving will start,” says Dr. Markus Heyn, member of the Bosch board of management and chairman of the Mobility Solutions business sector. “From the outset, Bosch has taken the approach of making the infrastructure in parking garages intelligent. Accordingly, we have set standards in this area. In the future, our aim is to equip more and more parking garages with the necessary infrastructure technology – we plan to do several hundred of them worldwide in the next few years.”

“We are extremely pleased to have successfully developed a connected system for driverless and contactless parking together with our partners from Bosch, Mercedes-Benz, and Stuttgart Airport. Our digital platform, APCOA FLOW, can be used to book spaces, for contactless access to the parking garage, and for automatic invoicing of the stay in the garage,” says Frank van der Sant, a member of the board of management and chief commercial officer of APCOA PARKING Group. “For our customers, this means a huge gain in convenience: planning certainty, hardly any wasted time, short distances to walk, and a contactless and cashless parking process.”

“We are proud that STR has been chosen as the airport for this global premiere,” says Walter Schoefer, management spokesperson for Flughafen Stuttgart GmbH, which runs Stuttgart Airport. “The project shows how innovative our region is. Automated Valet Parking really enhances our flight passengers’ comfort and convenience and saves them time, especially when they’re in a hurry and just want to drop their car off quickly at the airport.”

The technology behind driverless parking
Drive in to the parking garage, get out, and send the vehicle to a parking space just by tapping in a smartphone app – the Automated Valet Parking service has no need for a driver. Once the driver has left the parking garage – to spend the time just saved on doing something else – the vehicle drives itself to its assigned space and parks. Later, the vehicle returns to the pick-up point in exactly the same way. This process relies on the interplay between the intelligent infrastructure supplied by Bosch and installed in the parking garage and Mercedes-Benz automotive technology. Bosch sensors in the parking garage monitor the driving corridor and its surroundings and provide the information needed to guide the vehicle. The technology in the vehicle converts the information it receives from the infrastructure into driving maneuvers. This way, vehicles can even drive themselves up and down ramps to move between stories in the parking garage. If the infrastructure sensors detect an obstacle, the vehicle brakes and safely comes to a complete stop. Only once the route is clear does it continue on its way.

It was in 2019 that Bosch and Mercedes-Benz obtained the world’s first special permit to operate Automated Valet Parking using development vehicles without human oversight in everyday
operations of the parking garage of the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. The approval that has now been issued goes beyond this, allowing commercial operation with privately owned vehicles in the P6 parking garage at Stuttgart Airport. The basis for the approval is a law that came into force in Germany in July 2021, which permits driverless driving in accordance with SAE Level 4² for motor vehicles (BMDV – Germany will be the world leader in autonomous driving). Application of this law to the parking system was implemented in close coordination with the German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) and the KBA. The AFGBV (autonomous driving directive), passed by the upper chamber of the German parliament on May 20, 2022, clearly specifies the criteria of the German road traffic act that Level 4 vehicles must satisfy.

The companies plan to gradually roll out the driverless parking service in the APCOA P6 parking garage at Stuttgart Airport. From the day it is released for operation, the first customers with S-Class and EQS models built since July 2022 whose vehicle variants feature the INTELLIGENT PARK PILOT² service as part of Mercedes me connect, and who have activated this service, will be able to use the function at the P6 parking garage. Once drivers have used their Mercedes me app to book a parking space in advance, they can leave their vehicle in a predetermined drop-off area. After all the passengers have exited the vehicle, the app starts the parking maneuver. The parking system checks whether the route to the booked parking space is clear, and that all the other technical requirements have been satisfied. If this is the case, drivers receive a notification in the app confirming that the intelligent infrastructure has taken control of the vehicle. They can then leave the parking garage. The vehicle starts automatically and finds its own way to its parking space. When the driver wishes to retrieve their car from the parking garage, they can summon it via smartphone command. Their vehicle then makes its own way to a predetermined pick-up area.

[1] SAE J3016 defines six levels of automation for road vehicle driving operations (Level 0 to Level 5). Level 4 states: The vehicle can autonomously handle all traffic situations under certain conditions (e.g. in a parking garage). No driver is required.

[2] The INTELLIGENT PARK PILOT service from Mercedes me connect will initially be available in Germany for the Mercedes-Benz S-Class Saloon, Saloon Long and Mercedes EQS, starting with those built 07.2022 and later. This excludes Mercedes-Maybach and AMG models. The Mercedes-Benz S-Class Saloon and Saloon Long built as of 12.2020, excluding Mercedes-Maybach and AMG models, will follow shortly thereafter. Mercedes EQS models, excluding AMG, built as of 04.2021 will also follow shortly. As soon as INTELLIGENT PARK PILOT is available for a particular vehicle, the service will appear in the services menu of the Mercedes me app, ready for activation. In order to use the Mercedes me connect services, users require a personal Mercedes me ID and must agree to the conditions of use for Mercedes me connect services. Furthermore, the vehicle in question must be registered with the user account. Upon expiration of the initial period, users can extend services free-of-charge as long as those services remain available for that particular vehicle. First activation of services is possible within 1 year of initial vehicle registration or use by the customer, whichever is first.

Contact

APCOA PARKING Group:
Sebastian Merkle
Tel.: +49 711 94791-652
sebastian.merkle(at)apcoa.eu

Bosch:
Jennifer Kallweit
Tel.: +49 711 811-42239
Jennifer.Kallweit(at)de.bosch.com

Mercedes-Benz AG:
Alexandros Mitropoulos
Tel.: +49 (0) 176 309 96 021
alexandros.mitropoulos(at)mercedes-benz.com

Stuttgart Airport:
Johannes Schumm
Tel.: +49 711 948 3753
presse(at)stuttgart-airport.com

About APCOA PARKING Group
APCOA PARKING Group is Europe's leading parking operator with more than 50 years of industry expertise. With its 5,000 employees, the company manages more than 1.8 million individual parking spaces at over 12,000 locations that are easily accessible to 70 per cent of the population in 13 European countries. With its consistent "asset light" business model, APCOA is the trusted partner who maximises value for private and public real estate owners.

Via its open digital platform, APCOA FLOW, the company connects on-street and off-street car parks with owners, partners, customers and their vehicles. Based on this technology, APCOA is transforming its car parks into urban hubs, creating the physical and digital infrastructure for mobility, logistics, EV charging and a wide range of innovative services that enable a more convenient mobility experience. The environment also benefits: With its digital services and intelligent Traffic Management System, the company actively contributes to the reduction of emissions in cities by decreasing the volume of logistics traffic and vehicles searching for parking. By connecting parking, mobility, and services for urban living, APCOA is positioned to become an integral part of the digital and physical Smart City ecosystem.

www.apcoa.com

Stuttgart, 29th September 2022 – APCOA PARKING (APCOA), Europe’s leading parking operator with 1.8 million parking spaces at over 12,000 locations in 13 countries, has announced plans to deploy up to 100,000 new EV charging stations in its parking facilities by 2035. As part of its new EV strategy, APCOA will make the investment to expand its AC charging infrastructure and become a leading EV charging operator. In parallel, strategic partners from the automotive industry as well as energy and charging infrastructure providers will deploy additional 1,000 fast-charging stations across APCOA’s dense location network.

A new digital platform developed by APCOA will support the charging infrastructure which will be ready for non-proprietary hardware and can be operated independent of charge point ownership. This open and compatible setup allows the integration of multiple partners and services and represents a unique proposition in the market. The APCOA FLOW and APCOA Connect apps will serve as the frontend to the parking customer: They will be able to conveniently manage the entire EV charging process as well as additional value-added service including locating, booking and payment.

“The transition to electric mobility as the dominant technical solution in road traffic is an irreversible trend. EV charging infrastructure thus represents a major component of the transformation of APCOA’s car parks into ‘Urban Hubs’. For customers, the extended service infrastructure will increase the attractiveness of our locations. For us as an operator, we see substantial revenue potential from upgrading our parking sites with EV charging and other Urban Services”, explains Philippe Op de Beeck, CEO of APCOA PARKING Group. In keeping with its commitment to carbon neutral solutions, APCOA’s charging infrastructure will run primarily on green energy.

In this context, the decision by the European Parliament to ban sales of new cars with combustion engines from 2035 is a highly significant development. A recent study from the market analysts at Dynata confirms that consumers are increasingly willing to choose an electric vehicle, even in countries that have so far been somewhat reluctant to make the transition: 64 per cent of Germans expressed an interest in buying an electric or hybrid vehicle.

Furthermore, numerous countries have already enacted regulations to equip up to 30 per cent of public parking areas with EV charging stations, which will need to be implemented over the next few years. APCOA will work in partnership with its clients, the owners of the parking facilities, to deliver the roll out of these charging facilities, upgrading the energy grid where necessary, to offer EV users an optimal charging experience in accordance with their needs and expected parking time.

To date, around 2,500 EV charging stations are available in car parks operated by APCOA. Based on data collected from these charging stations, APCOA expects the demand for charging stations to further increase significantly in the near future as the number of EVs continues to grow. The business generated by this new charging infrastructure aligns well with APCOA’s core parking business. It offers users attractive value-added functionality and complements the wide range of additional services in the fields of urban logistics, mobility, and technology services. The offering is being provided on a site-specific basis under the APCOA URBAN HUBS brand.

“We firmly believe in the future of electric mobility, which stands to make an important contribution on the net zero journey. Therefore, we are creating the necessary infrastructure to play our part in meeting the international decarbonisation targets. As a company, we strive to shape our growth sustainably to create a liveable and green future. In recent years, we have continuously worked to implement a wide range of ESG measures and have combined our sustainability activities in a group-wide ESG program. In doing so, all measures are aligned with the UN Global Compact agreement to which APCOA is a signatory”, says Philippe Op de Beeck.

Contact:
APCOA PARKING Holdings GmbH
Sebastian Merkle
Flughafenstr. 34
70624 Stuttgart-Airport
T: +49 711-94791-0
 

About APCOA PARKING Group

APCOA PARKING Group is Europe's leading parking operator with more than 50 years of industry expertise. With its 5,000 employees, the company manages more than 1.8 million individual parking spaces at over 12,000 locations that are easily accessible to 70 per cent of the population in 13 European countries. With its consistent "asset light" business model, APCOA is the trusted partner who maximises value for private and public real estate owners.

Via its open digital platform, APCOA FLOW, the company connects on-street and off-street car parks with owners, partners, customers and their vehicles. Based on this technology, APCOA is transforming its car parks into urban hubs, creating the physical and digital infrastructure for mobility, logistics, EV charging and a wide range of innovative services that enable a more convenient mobility experience. The environment also benefits: With its digital services and intelligent Traffic Management System, the company actively contributes to the reduction of emissions in cities by decreasing the volume of logistics traffic and vehicles searching for parking. By connecting parking, mobility, and services for urban living, APCOA is positioned to become an integral part of the digital and physical Smart City ecosystem.

www.apcoa.com

• In the future, a command from a smartphone will tell cars where to park in Stuttgart Airport’s P6 parking garage.
• The new Mercedes-Benz S-Class is equipped with the technology to enable driverless, fully automated parking (SAE Level 4¹).
• For AVP, Bosch is using camera-based infrastructure for the first time to detect lanes and obstacles.
• The parking garage operator Apcoa is testing barrier and payment functions as the basis for automated valet parking, enabled by its APCOA FLOW digital mobility platform.

Stuttgart, 12 October 2020 – APCOA PARKING (APCOA), Europe’s leading parking space operator, has launched APCOA URBAN HUBS to create an integrated ecosystem for the innovative and sustainable use of parking spaces. While APCOA’s strategic partners benefit from being able to access the physical infrastructure and digital services they need to further develop their business models, APCOA PARKING’s customers benefit from an expanded range of innovative services and products. With APCOA serving as the central interface between individual, intermodal mobility and Smart City concepts, in combination with APCOA’s strong network of strategic partners, real estate owners also benefit by sustainably enhancing the value of their assets.

Automated parking to drive down the airport stress: Bosch, Mercedes-Benz, and the parking garage operator Apcoa want to introduce driverless and fully automated parking at Stuttgart airport in the future. To this end, the automated valet parking (AVP) system co-developed by Bosch and Mercedes-Benz is to be made ready for commercial operation. The new Mercedes-Benz S-Class is already geared up to accommodate it as the world’s first production vehicle to feature the technology required for future infrastructure-based AVP. As an option, customers can buy the appropriate pre-installation for what the company calls the INTELLIGENT PARK PILOT, which makes the S-Class capable of receiving a smartphone command to drive itself to a reserved parking space. “With the new S-Class, it’s not just driving that’s a luxury, but parking as well,” says Dr. Michael Hafner, head of automated driving at Mercedes-Benz AG. The P6 parking garage at Stuttgart airport will serve as the pilot for the planned commercial automated parking service. Here, the companies will test how the vehicle technology onboard the S-Class interacts with the intelligent Bosch infrastructure and APCOA FLOW, the digital platform provided by the parking garage operator Apcoa.
This platform makes the whole parking process ticketless and cashless. “Apcoa, Bosch, Mercedes-Benz, and Stuttgart airport want to work together to make parking fully automatic,” says Christoph Hartung, member of the executive management of Connected Mobility Solutions at Bosch. In the airport parking garage, preparations are currently underway to begin piloting the planned automated valet parking service. The aim of this trial with new S-Class vehicles at Stuttgart airport is to ensure that interactions between the vehicle, infrastructure technology, and parking garage operator run smoothly and are optimized for the customer.

World’s first Level 4 park function in a production vehicle
In July 2019, Bosch and Mercedes-Benz received the world’s first special permit to operate AVP for selected E-Class vehicles without a safety driver in real-life, mixed parking garage traffic at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. Equipped with the appropriate pre-installation for the INTELLIGENT PARK PILOT, the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class is now the first production vehicle to feature AVP technology, which enables it to park without a driver. However, this is conditional on the future availability of parking garages with the appropriate infrastructure, as well as on national legislators giving AVP the green light. This makes the Mercedes-Benz S-Class the world’s first vehicle to feature a pre-installation for an SAE Level 4 automated driving function, the second-highest level of automation. “With automated valet parking, Mercedes-Benz is demonstrating that driverless parking will soon be possible,” Hafner says.

To facilitate this new one-touch parking function, a spacious drop-off and pick-up area will be set up directly behind the entrance to the P6 parking garage, giving AVP users a convenient place to leave their vehicles. As they comfortably make their way to the terminal and check in, their S-Class will park itself in the basement, guided by information from the infrastructure technology. In other words, users no longer need to worry about maneuvering or having to squeeze out of their cars when the space they have finally found proves to be too narrow. “Automated valet parking really enhances our passengers’ comfort and convenience and saves them time, especially when they’re in a hurry and just want to drop their car off quickly at the airport”, says Walter Schoefer, management spokesman for Flughafen Stuttgart GmbH. For the test phase that is about to start, P6 will initially have two spaces available for self-parking vehicles. More spaces will be added when driverless parking becomes standard as planned in the future and as demand increases.

Intelligent infrastructure and digital platforms
The pilot parking garage at Stuttgart airport will be a premiere for new Bosch video cameras that can identify vacant parking spaces, monitor the driving aisle and its surroundings, and detect obstacles or people in the aisle. Until now, lidar sensors have been used for this purpose. A dedicated control center in the parking garage then calculates the route the vehicles need to take to reach an available space. “Our intelligent parking garage infrastructure forms the basis for the future of driverless parking,” Hartung says. Thanks to the information that the cameras provide, it is also possible for cars to drive themselves around the parking garage – even on narrow ramps, enabling them to move between different stories. The in-vehicle technology autonomously converts the information from the infrastructure into driving maneuvers. If the cameras detect an unexpected obstacle, for example, the vehicle safely performs an emergency stop.

APCOA FLOW, the parking garage operator Apcoa’s digital platform, will also play a key role in driverless parking at Stuttgart airport. Drivers are already using the platform to help lighten the burden of parking. This ranges from making firm reservations for a parking space, to contactless entry into the parking garage, and to fully automated payment, invoicing, and contactless exit. The system recognizes the customer’s vehicle and the barriers open automatically, making a ticket and trip to the ticket machine redundant. “We want to be the first parking garage operator to fully support and enable automated parking services based on AVP technology in one of our parking garages,” says Frank van der Sant, chief commercial officer at Apcoa Parking Holdings GmbH.

More vehicles, more parking garages
A vehicle drop-off and collection service saves time and avoids long walks to the car: once parking garages are equipped with the appropriate infrastructure and national laws permit AVP, customers will be able to enjoy driverless parking services. Bosch and Mercedes-Benz are paving the way for this with the world’s first infrastructure-based solution for SAE Level 4 automated valet parking in real-life, mixed parking garage traffic. Uniform standards and interfaces ensure smooth communication between the vehicles and infrastructure technology. In the future, Bosch’s aim is to equip more and more parking garages with AVP infrastructure technology.

As Europe’s largest parking garage operator, Apcoa also has a strategic interest in offering innovative premium services like AVP in more of its parking garages. “Looking ahead, we want to open up AVP to more customers at selected Apcoa locations,” van der Sant says. The company manages approximately 1.5 million individual parking spaces at over 9,500 locations in 13 European countries. By increasing the availability of driverless and fully automated parking services, the same amount of space could accommodate up to 20 percent more vehicles. In addition, driverless parking is especially suitable for narrow, remote, and therefore unattractive parking areas that people would otherwise avoid.

¹SAE-Level 4: The car can autonomously handle all traffic situations under certain conditions (e.g. on selected roads, not in all types of weather). No driver is required

Contact:
APCOA PARKING Holdings GmbH
Sebastian Merkle
Flughafenstr. 34
70624 Stuttgart-Airport
T: +49 711-94791-0

About APCOA PARKING Group
APCOA PARKING Group is Europe's leading parking operator with more than 45 years of industry expertise. With its 5,000 employees, the company manages approximately 1.4 million individual parking spaces at over 10,000 locations in 13 European countries. These include parking spaces at 1,800 city and shopping centre locations, 400 hotels, 150 hospitals and 58 European airports. With its consistent "asset light" business model, APCOA is the trusted partner who maximizes value for private and public real estate owners
Via its open digital platform APCOA FLOW, the company connects on-street and off-street car parks with clients, partners, customers and their vehicles. Based on this technology, APCOA is transforming its car parks into mobility hubs, offering innovative services that enable a more convenient mobility experience. The environment also benefits: with its digital services and intelligent Traffic Management System, the company actively contributes to the reduction of emissions in cities by decreasing the volume of traffic searching for parking. By connecting parking and mobility, APCOA is positioned to become an integral part of the Smart City.
www.apcoa.com 
 
Additional information:
World first: Bosch and Daimler obtain approval for driverless parking without human oversight
Bosch and Daimler demonstrate driverless parking in real-life conditions.