Arrive Give Insight on Working with Automakers for Parking Talks

Arrive is the leading provider of solutions for the last-mile of mobility. Recently, they have undertaken projects with automakers including General Motors (GM) and Fiat Chrysler. We wanted to know more about why they have taken this route and what we can expect in the future. Dan Roarty, COO, was on hand to give us more information. 

Why Have You Taken the Step to Work Directly with Vehicle Manufacturers?

We believe that ultimately what people want is what we call ‘conformational commerce’. We don’t think people need more apps to download or more steps to take and a car’s screen is a very natural place to start and end a parking session in our view. So, while it’ll be a while before we get the software and voice interactions right but what we’re pointing towards is where a consumer approaches a gate or when they simply shift their car into park the car knows where it is. There’s no reason why we can’t help offer up a parking session or transaction where it’s appropriate. So, whether I am parked at a metered space or a surface lot or I’m approaching a gate, there’s no reason we can’t make it a one-tap simple (process) for folks to start and end their parking sessions.

Can You Give Us Some Examples of Projects You’ve Conducted with a Vehicle Manufacturer?

We’ve recently begun working with GM and their various brands as well as with Fiat Chrysler. In both of these cases, we’re starting with the reservations-use case. In both cases these automakers wanted to start with something that can be easily benchmarked against all the other apps that are out there. So for those two projects they took our APIs and working with their tier one vendors, we were able to integrate those APIs into a parking reservation product that is only a few taps in order to book parking. Those projects are just launched in fact GM just launched in their vehicles and Fiat Chrysler as well. We don’t expect massive volume to start coming through these channels, but we look at them as an opportunity to learn, to learn how customers respond to having software in their car, to understand what are the friction points and barriers to adoption. Ultimately, we think we can get there with our automotive parkers where it is simply a one tap experience and really to make that happen that involves a lot of partners. It involves not only their software integrators; it involves system players that can provide things like knowledge that the car has shifted into park for example. We see this as a first step, an exciting first step for us. We’ve partnered with automakers before but usually it’s in the form of a companion app so this our first opportunity to learn what happens in the dashboard.

What Has the Uptake Been like so Far?

In both cases we’ve only literally begun marketing so anyone who’s found the service to date would be experimenting or testing it, trying it out. The marketing efforts will start to ramp through Q4, where we’ll start to see our first real results. Obviously, with automakers, you have to get it into the vehicle and in both cases there are some upgrades that need to take place and things like that so while we formally launched we have not seen a lot of natural traffic but from the test groups and focus groups that we’ve taken through the experience so far feedback has been good and I think consumers like the idea of being able to do this before they begin their journey and make sure the parking is figured out and that it is well integrated into their navigation as well.

Are There Other Similar Projects Coming up in the Future for Arrive?

Yes indeed, we have a couple more automakers coming that are unannounced where we have several projects working and we’re also working with other folks that have in car systems so you can imagine the likes of the car players and android autos of the world that have projects underway as well. We also have our Alexa Skill that is live now and we are partnered with the Amazon Auto folks to make that a skill in their vehicle systems as well. We’re at step one really of what will be a fun and exciting journey. I know I myself as a consumer am longing for the days when I can leave my phone in my pocket and whether I am using my voice with Alexa or tapping on a screen to make parking simpler, that’s our mission at the end of the day.

Watch our Parking Talks video here:

About Arrive

Arrive powers the last mile of connected and autonomous mobility. The company delivers scalable, friction-free parking experiences through apps, voice and in-dash. Its fully integrated platform makes it easy for companies and brands to offer parking as a solution for drivers, fleets and connected vehicles. Millions of people across North America have access to Arrive-powered parking through the company’s distribution partners, including Amazon, Ford, Avis, Hyundai, Honda, TomTom, Ticketmaster/Live Nation, Groupon, and many others, and its consumer-facing brands, ParkWhiz and BestParking. For more information, visit Arrive.com.