NTU Singapore and ST Engineering Launch Singapore's First Barrier-Free Smart Car Park

Singapore, 14 September 2020 - Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and ST Engineering today announced the launch of Singapore's first barrier-free Smart Car Park, an innovative solution which makes parking easier and more convenient across NTU's multiple campuses.  

The Smart Car Park System is a ticketless and barrier-free parking solution developed by the Electronics arm of ST Engineering. Paired with the GoParkin mobile app, the system integrates the latest technologies such as Automatic Number Plate Recognition, data analytics and mobile payment technologies to help motorists overcome issues encountered in conventional car park systems, while delivering car park operators significant operational and maintenance cost-savings and key insights on the usage of their car parks.

The Smart Car Park System is the University’s latest initiative in line with its NTU Smart Campus vision of harnessing digital and tech-enabled solutions to create better learning and living experiences at the University.

Professor Subra Suresh, NTU President, said, “The new Smart Car Park Platform is an example of yet another innovation that improves everyday life through technology-enabled solutions.  This is in line with the NTU Smart Campus vision whereby we harness the power of technology in a sustainable manner to improve the quality of life of members of our community. The Smart Car Park technology will enable us to enhance the experience of visiting, living and working at NTU for our students, employees and guests.  It will also give us better insights and data analytics to improve our services while reducing cost.”

Hassle-free convenience for motorists

To benefit from the Smart Car Park features, motorists must register via the GoParkin mobile app and provide the required details and credit/debit card information to their account. When motorists use a Smart Car Park, their registered number plate will be recognised, providing them with seamless entry and exit. The correct parking fee will be calculated at exit and billed to their account.

The system also aggregates parking data and provides real-time information on car park occupancy via the GoParkin app. Motorists are pointed to the closest available parking spots with car park rates, saving them time in searching for available car park lots. Motorists can also conveniently apply and pay for season parking via the app.

Significant cost savings and insights on car park operations

In addition, the Smart Car Park System offers significant savings to NTU by reducing operational and maintenance costs. The cloud-based platform enables centralised management and control of car park operations, providing the University with an overview of parking occupancy records and an asset management module to help identify preventive maintenance that can extend the value of equipment and prevent costly downtime.

The system’s Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology uses video recognition and analytics, which is more cost-effective to maintain compared to the conventional Electronic Parking System, which uses the In-Vehicle Unit and cash card for processing parking fee payments. As the mobile app allows motorists to make their parking payments remotely at any time, it eliminates the need for physical payment stations and barriers at the car parks. 

Ravinder Singh, President of ST Engineering’s Electronics arm said, “Smart Car Parks manage parking in a more effective and sustainable way, reducing air pollution and traffic congestion which improve motorists’ experience. Beyond these, insights on car park usage can potentially generate new value-added services for motorists and transform business models for car park operators. Smart Car Parks are integral to the smart cities of the future, and ST Engineering is proud to play a part in advancing NTU’s Smart Campus vision.”

The barrier-free Smart Car Park System has started operating at three car parks on NTU's main Jurong campus. The system will be progressively implemented at all 59 car parks in the University’s campuses including Novena and one-north, and will cover more than 4,000 parking lots when completed by the end of 2021.

Besides developing the Smart Car Park System, ST Engineering’s Electronics arm will provide managed services for all NTU car parks.

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About Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

A research-intensive public university, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has 33,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students in the Engineering, Business, Science, Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences, and Graduate colleges. It also has a medical school, the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, established jointly with Imperial College London.

NTU is also home to world-class autonomous institutes – the National Institute of Education, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Earth Observatory of Singapore, and Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering – and various leading research centres such as the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI) and Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N).

Ranked amongst the world’s top universities by QS, NTU has also been named the world’s top young university for the past seven years. The University’s main campus is frequently listed among the Top 15 most beautiful university campuses in the world and has 57 Green Mark-certified (equivalent to LEED-certified) buildings, of which 95% are certified Green Mark Platinum. Apart from its main campus, NTU also has a campus in Novena, Singapore’s healthcare district.

Under the NTU Smart Campus vision, the University harnesses the power of digital technology and tech-enabled solutions to support better learning and living experiences, the discovery of new knowledge, and the sustainability of resources.

For more information, visit www.ntu.edu.sg

About ST Engineering

ST Engineering is a global technology, defence and engineering group specialising in the aerospace, electronics, land systems and marine sectors. The Group employs about 23,000 people across offices in Asia, Europe, Middle East and the U.S., serving customers in the defence, government and commercial segments in more than 100 countries. With more than 700 smart city projects across 130 cities in its track record, the Group continues to help transform cities through its suite of Smart Mobility, Smart Security and Smart Environment solutions. Headquartered in Singapore, ST Engineering reported revenue of $7.9b in FY2019 and it ranks among the largest companies listed on the Singapore Exchange. It is a component stock of the FTSE Straits Times Index, MSCI Singapore, iEdge SG ESG Transparency Index and iEdge SG ESG Leaders Index.

For more information, please visit www.stengg.com.

Media contact:

Feisal Abdul Rahman
Senior Assistant Director
Corporate Communications Office
Nanyang Technological University
Tel: (65) 6790 6687/Mobile: (65) 9675 1517
Email: [email protected]

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