Truck Smart Parking Services Inc. and the infrastructure firm HNTB have struck a deal to take the Truck Parking Information and Management System nationwide.

"Our ultimate vision is a ubiquitous multistate, corridor-focused network that covers a trucker's route from origin to destination," said Eric Morris, HNTB project manager.

The HNTB and TSPS developed business-to-business agreements with the truck stops, allowing the firms to collect parking data and license the information with other third party information providers such as the Michigan Department of Transportation. 

The information will be aggregated and consolidated with TSPS's cloud computing service and distributed to drivers.

The system, which uses a network of cameras and sensors to detect open truck parking spaces at rest areas and private facilities, was recently deployed on section of Interstate 94 in Michigan. The data is relayed by signs and sent online to drivers and dispatchers in real time.

“This system’s adaptability to any highway in the country is its most valuable feature, as many commercial truck drivers travel hundreds of miles to make deliveries,” said Morris. “It is scalable elsewhere and can be deployed quickly and efficiently at public and private parking facilities in any state.”

The cost of operating a truck is nearly $120 per hour and saving a truck driver 15 minutes during their parking routine could translate to billions of dollars in savings industry wide, says HNTB. Drivers could also save two gallons of fuel and reduce greenhouse emissions by 45 pounds per parking search, or 3.3 million tons of CO2 each year.