The City of Pittsburgh has implemented Smart Loading Zones as a new way to manage our curb space to increase delivery efficiency and decrease congestion and emissions.

Commercial delivery is growing at an unprecedented rate, leading to increased congestion, emissions, and safety hazards in urban areas. Pre-pandemic estimates showed demand for e-commerce resulting in a 35% increase in commercial vehicles by 2030. In 2020 alone, e-commerce grew by 44%.

Smart Loading Zones give cities the opportunity to manage congestion in ways that benefit cities, businesses, residents, and fleets alike.

How does it work?

Automotus technology will analyze real-time curbside activity, automate payment by the minute for the time a vehicle spends at the curb, and share real-time parking availability data with drivers via open APIs. Each vehicle will be automatically sent an invoice based on its license plate information -- no app or meter needed.

Smart Loading Zones are enforced 5am to 10pm Monday through Friday and have a maximum loading time of 1 hour. Vehicles are only billed for the time used in the loading zone.

How long is the pilot?

The Smart Loading Zones started as an initial one-year pilot. City Council extended the pilot for two additional years, moving the final pilot expiration to December 2024.

What are the anticipated outcomes of the pilot?

• Align parking and loading policies with real-time data
• Decrease emissions from unnecessary idling and circling
• Reduce parking-caused traffic by 20% and double-parking by 60%
• Generate additional revenue from parking and loading
• Increase parking turnover for restaurants and small businesses
• Improve safety for pedestrians, cyclists, and other curb users
• Increase delivery efficiency and reduce dwell time

How do I sign up for an Automotus account?

Once the Smart Loading Zones are live, a driver can register their vehicle and payment here. This one-time registration will enable automated payment for curb usage by the minute when your vehicle is at the Smart Loading Zone for the entirety of the pilot.

If you are a fleet operator or larger company, you can email partners@automotus.co to inquire about registering your fleet in the Smart Loading Zones program.

What will the sign look like?

Unlike a surveillance system or traditional camera recording system, Automotus’s technology captures only three specific types of data:

• De-identified sample image data to train the technology
• De-identified traffic and curb activity metadata to inform smarter policies, and
• Vehicle license plate information for the sole purpose of automatically processing parking payments

License plate information is the only form of personally identifiable information that Automotus collects and it never captures or shares this information for any purpose other than to facilitate automated payment.

For more information, you can review Automotus’s full policy on its website: https://www.automotus.co/privacypolicy

Sign up for an account – app.automotus.io

Contact Automotus - partners@automotus.co

Automotus Customer Support – 714-769-8192

Autmotus Privacy Policy - https://www.automotus.co/privacypolicy