In the era of digital transformation that promotes Industry 4.0, a platform that creates new value by linking products, services, and solutions exerts great influence. Particularly, its platform service "that shares assets" was combined with high-level IT to lead the sharing economy platform service in the untact era. Hancom Mobility, the company that provides the parking lot sharing platform service, is also a platform that combines the effective assets of the parking lot and core technologies of Industry 4.0. It contributing to maximizing the convenience of users and solving traffic and parking problems.
Located in Pangyo Techno Valley, it offers various hardware and software in the parking industry like Parking Friends, a shared parking service for real-time search and reservation of parking spaces, Parking Friends, the shared parking payment service, PF Sensor, the IoT parking sensor with the most advanced IoT communication network, PF Control System, the all-in-one solution that provides all infrastructure necessary for parking lot implementation, and PF Blocker, the BLE blocker for entry and exit management that works by smartphones. The birthplace of Hancom Mobility is a startup company named Mirae NCT. Hancom Group acquired Mirae NCT in 2019 and entered the mobility business, and even changed the company name to Hancom Mobility.
"As Korea's interest in shared economy service increased two to three years ago, people started sharing vehicles and accommodations, and they made it into a business. That's when Hyeon Jae-young, the CEO of Hancom Mobility, thought, "What if we share parking spaces? By sharing parking lots based on the status information of the parking lot, it would become convenient.” That’s when he began thinking about the business model. The service that was born from this thought is Malang Malang Parking Friends. Parking Friends provides real-time information on parking spaces with self-developed IoT sensors and CCTVs for safe and convenient parking services to parking space providers and drivers using parking spaces.
In Parking Friends, providers who operate or own a parking lot register information about the parking surface on the platform, and the platform connects users based on the information entered. Hyeon said, “By acquiring the status information of the parking lot, Parking Friends has attached sensors on each space to provide accurate connection service with the users. The sensors help users to accurately check and make reservations for empty parking spaces even when the parking spaces are widely spread.”
Hancom Mobility Parking Friends platform is widely used by parking lot operators, but the biggest target it is seeking is the street parking lot owned by local governments. "To solve the parking problem on the alleyway, the local governments assign the parking spaces to the residents for priority use. These spaces become empty spaces when the residents go to work, but the general public was not allowed to use them, and if they did, they were get parking tickets for illegal parking," he added. To increase the usability of this space, the company has signed an agreement with local governments to provide Parking Friends service.
These services can also be applied to parking lots of private homes, and if shops are around the residential areas, these parking spaces can be used, and fewer people will be subject to illegal parking. Hyeon said, "Parking Friends not only solves traffic and parking problems, but also contributes to solving energy problems, environmental problems, and disaster and safety problems. Generally, when moving to a specific destination by car in a city, the time used to find a parking lot took 15% of the travel time. If the parking becomes more convenient, time and energy can be saved, and pollution can be reduced. And, most of all, restrictions of movement due to illegal parking when disasters such as a fire occur can be solved." The company started with the parking sharing platform service for the Yeongdeungpo-gu Office and signed agreements with 14 autonomous districts in Seoul. It is expanding its services nationwide by making agreements with metropolitan cities such as Busan and Gwangju.
On the other hand, the company is focusing on developing exclusive apps for drivers to be in line with the smart city era. It is planning additional services for electric vehicles that have to be charged when they are parked. With this, it is also developing a platform for providing connection service with vehicle maintenance and micro-mobility, and public transportation services.
Hyeon thinks Pangyo is a special place where big companies and start-up companies are all connected by value chains. While being happy for working here, he anticipated that Pangyo will place a big role in providing the venue of cooperation among specialized companies with innovative technologies for launching the products and services that are in line with Industry 4.0./.
