Japan’s IHI to bring automated car-towers to China

According to GLOBAL CONSTRUCTON REVIEW, Japan’s IHI Corporation, Japan’s top purveoy of automated parking lots, is planning to expand into the vast Chinese market, created as land prices soar and car ownership demand rises by 20 million vehicles a year. The first project has begun in Qingdao, where IHI has launched a joint venture with China's state-owned Huatong Group, taking a 49 percent interest, targets 10 billion yen ($90 million) in revenue from the operations by 2022. IHI, which has built more than 8,000 car towers and holds 40% share of Japan’s automated parking lot market. This modern parking system stack cars on top of each other several layers deep, then rotates the layers to accept or release their vehicles to save space. IHI has developed algorithms to calculate how vehicles must be moved and stored for the most efficient retrieval, and car owners can operate the system using a touchscreen panel. In the future, IHI foresees demand for 1 million additional parking spots each year as China’s per capital GDP continues to increase. The global market for autonomous parking systems is expected to grow at a compound rate of 11% over the next five years. The population of Japan is roughly twice that of the UK, but the country has less than half as much useable land, making it problematic to find space for cars. https://youtu.be/ZJaDq6BYFys