back 28.01.2019

The company Intermobility launched its first project in sphere of parking solutions for businesses in Africa with support from ICIE

Nairobi, Kenya, 28 January 2019

The company Intermobility, which specializes in integrating smart transport IT systems, launched its first pilot project in the sphere of parking solutions for businesses in Africa (Nairobi, Kenya).

As part of its pilot project, the company is launching a fully automated solution, utilizing mobile payments, for enclosed parking spaces. This innovative solution makes use of vehicle registration plate recognition technology and a USSD channel to pay for parking. Parking a vehicle in a paid facility becomes fully automated and does not involve cash owing to this solution. The main aim of this pilot project is to encourage the move towards cashless transactions, to test technology compatibility and to ensure users support this solution. The use of cashless payments in this project is vital for partners in Kenya, as such a payment system encourages transparency, reduces the number of transactions involving cash, prevents theft, unintended payments and monetary losses. M-PESA provides a branchless banking service, which means that its users can perform the most common financial operations without the need to visit a local bank. M-PESA’s lasting success in Kenya has resulted in a popular and accessible payment service which minimizes involvement of banks. Hence, from now onwards, users will be able to pay for parking via this common and convenient means. The USSD channel was chosen for the first stage of the project, since not all users have smartphones in Kenya. The next phase of the project involves an introduction of a mobile application, which will make the use of paid parking facilities even more convenient for smartphone users.

This project opens up opportunities for Intermobility in this new promising African market that is ready for global innovations in many aspects of city life, and that has, recently, focused on improvements in this sphere.

Intermobility is a member of the International Congress of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ICIE, the Congress) and envisages to continue launching similar projects in other cities and countries that are represented by the Congress.

Earlier with assistance from the ICIE, Intermobility developed a solution that enabled lampposts in the Moscow Region to be used as charging stations.

Its mobile application is very user-friendly and ensures access to the whole network of lamppost charging stations, including those that are yet to become operational, with just a few clicks. It also allows users to take advantage of charging options available in cities.