Time places a strict constraint on all of human endeavors such that there is a deadline which must be met if one is to subsist. Hence, path selection and optimization is an area of all human endeavors that is as important as human existence itself. Like luxurious time, mobility is central to all of mankind’s action, hence, success or failure. The advent of automobiles in the transportation industry has led to positive significant transformations, characterized by enhanced travel flexibility and the prompt attendance to distant ventures. Poor roads, shortages of car parks and abandoned vehicles have hindered instant mobility of car users especially in urban areas. Most commuters could not manage their precious time dynamically due to heavy road congestions and illegal drop of cars abruptly when confronted with high traffic or breakdowns along the roads, office surroundings and homes.. An approach to prevent illegal parking of cars anywhere and for the support of commuters led to development of car parks. In many localities, the use of such park cannot be accounted due to ill-structuring, no coordination and unpopular to many commuters. Structured and well managed parks would have reduced a number of cars at traffic lights joints.

Researches had explored novel solutions to this urban mobility problems: Traffic Light Control Systems, Google Map Traffic Information/Guide, Traffic Bill Boards and introduction of Internet of Things (IoT)-powered smart parking systems are available in developed countries and few urban cities of developing countries like Nigeria. In addition to automations on car park management, this proposal is set out to implement an IoT-controlled home to car park system. The model has been simulated using microcontroller device to test its functionalities.

The intention here for the proposal is to make a real-life scenario of the proposition in at least a car lot in one of the University car parks.  The choice of our components is for easy implementation. The ESP32 microcontroller, which powers the system, was selected for its strong Wi-Fi connectivity and versatility with a range of sensors and actuators. The system integrated servo motors to control arrivals and departures at entry and exit points, used ultrasonic sensors to monitor parking space availability, and RFID technology with the system offered an occupancy view of parking spaces in real time and facilitating effective parking spot allocation. The Arduino Integrated Development Environment (IDE) identified vehicles quickly and securely. The Blynk application streamlines user interaction in C language. Its operating logic is efficient and flexible. We were able to effectively implement our ideas on a table-top and every component was put through a thorough testing process, which produced some fascinating results.

For real life scenario of the IOT-controlled car lot (at least two car park lots) for demonstration in closed- car park and can be replicated to other car lots. For the second part of the project, we intend to benchmark with Google map, by integrating reinforcement learning (an arm of unsupervised machine learning) to navigate a remote user to available car lot. This we shall test through cloud integration and machine learning model.

The expected result is both quantitative and qualitative. Qualitative in terms of time management, paving way for smart city, real-time car park status, better route planning flexibility in resource allocation. Economic quantitative value could be in terms of revenue generation, time duration and traffic analysis. All these benefits could motivate support for digital transformation of services to reduce traffic  stress and prolong life.

The phenomenon of rapid urbanization and population increase in cities across the globe has resulted in a progressively worsening issue of traffic congestion and inadequate management of available automobile car parks. The conventional blind search parking systems frequently lead to inefficiencies in terms of time utilization, fuel consumption, and heightened emissions as a consequence of the continuous pursuit of unoccupied parking spots. In addition to the urban high traffic situation experienced in developing countries is the shortage of real-time data regarding parking space availability to commuters within the vicinity of their destinations resulting to poor transportation experience.

The friendly Google Map has not being able to predict nearest car park with parking space for commuters in Nigeria but achieved the guess of shortest/fastest route to destinations if requested. Therefore, absence of structured, IT-inclined car park has led to the following handicaps:

1. No structured car park system in congested most living places and urban centres with many offices in Nigeria which amount to double parks, abandonment of vehicles on busy streets.

2. Searching for free space to park cars wastes a lot of time and resources.

3. Absence of technology-control modern car park in urban cities as compared to developed countries.  There are few  auto-controlled traffic lights at crossed roads in few urban cities in Nigeria.

4. Insensitivity to financial gains and derivations of managing e-car-park as an internally generating revenue for development

5. Loss of some parked cars due to low methods of tracing their dismissal.

6. Commuter’s roaming around and traffic congestion in cities/ community have led to drivers' death on steering and car crashes.

Hence, the issue at hand pertains to one of the SDG Goals.