Parkopedia is working with Apcoa Parking to deliver automated, seamless digital parking payments in cities across Europe that drivers can access from within their vehicles.

By leveraging automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR) technology at Apcoa’s car park locations across 13 European countries, drivers will be able to enter and exit car parks without requiring a ticket, or needing to stop at a pay station.

Known as access-and-pay, this will make parking payments quicker, easier and more convenient. Drivers will no longer need to worry about additional stay costs or fines, as it allows digital payments for the total time of the stay, without requiring any further action from the driver.

The platform also accommodates Apcoa’s dynamic pricing structure, which covers different tariffs depending on the occupancy of the car park, ensuring drivers can effortlessly cover the total cost of parking sessions, regardless of any price fluctuations.

The integration with UK firm Parkopedia’s platform modernises frictionless payments, and meets the demand for in-car commerce services, which are growing significantly across Europe. Deeply integrated into the vehicle systems for driver convenience services, Parkopedia’s single sign-on technology replaces bring-you-own-account marketplace options, where drivers previously needed to manage multiple accounts, and encountered limited-service coverage, combined with unsafe external methods such as screen mirroring through smartphones, which distract drivers while at the wheel.

“Our partnership with Parkopedia allows us to take our already successful automated parking and charging payment to the next step in driver convenience and mobility services,” said Frank van der Sant, chief commercial officer at Apcoa Parking. “Our customers will now be able to benefit from our technology directly from their in-car infotainment screens without taking their focus off the road and allowing drivers to get valuable time back with peace of mind that their parking and charging payments are completely taken care of.”

Apcoa Flow, the company’s digital platform payment service, will integrate seamlessly into Parkopedia’s in-car payment platform, which allows drivers to pay for both on and off-street parking, as well as EV charging, tolls and pay-at-the-pump fuelling, all via the vehicle’s infotainment screen. The platform solves the time-consuming and expensive problem of aggregating a large number of service suppliers and payment providers for automakers, uniting them into a single integrated system.

“Our partnership with Apcoa is a huge step forward for driver convenience technology and mobility services,” said Hans Puvogel, chief operating officer at Parkopedia. “Parkopedia is able to substantially increase our payment platform’s parking coverage across Europe, while Apcoa can now integrate its successful parking payment services directly to the driver from within their vehicles as part of complete seamless mobility. Together, we will meet the demand for digital and automated parking services and provide lasting positive parking experiences across the continent.”

Parkopedia and Apcoa previously collaborated as part of Mercedes-Benz’s intelligent park pilot for the S-Class, enabling reservations and parking payments for vehicles parked using autonomous valet parking technology.

Parkopedia is a connected car services provider used by millions of drivers and organisations such as Audi, Apple, BMW, Ford, Garmin, GM, Hyundai Kia, Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Peugeot, Sygic, TomTom, Toyota and Volkswagen, helping drivers find and pay for parking, EV charging, fuel and tolls in 15,000 cities across 89 countries. Parkopedia is also developing detailed parking maps and corresponding algorithms to help drivers and self-driving vehicles navigate to an open parking space indoors.