On the 5th, at the complex shopping mall 'Whizdom 101' in Bangkok, Thailand, silver BMW vehicles were being driven into the parking garage on the basement first floor, located adjacent to Sukhumvit Road, which connects Bangkok with other cities via Highway 3.
This is where SP&Mobility, a subsidiary of Sampyo Group, established a parking system using its automatic robotic parking system called 'MPSystem.' SP&Mobility is a joint venture between the startup Semper M, which holds automated robotic parking technology, and Sampyo Group. This facility is designed to accommodate up to 690 vehicles.
◆ A robot the thickness of two cigarette packs lifts vehicles 2 cm for parking
As parking attendants in black uniforms positioned the vehicles on a circular metal rack called a 'turntable,' the cars were rotated 90 degrees. A robot named 'Duo,' equipped with four arms, glided out from beneath a rectangular body along the rails under the metal rack where the vehicles were positioned, extended its arms to lift the vehicle about 2 cm, and then moved it directly to the entrance. The entire process took less than 2 minutes. The thickness of the lifting robot Duo was only about 20 cm, equivalent to the thickness of two cigarette packs.
In domestic mechanical parking lots, drivers must drive their cars to the entrance (gate). Additionally, once a vehicle is parked, it cannot be moved from that spot. However, this system using robotic transfer devices does not require the driver to enter the gate. It can also perform parallel parking by moving already parked vehicles to find empty spaces, thus utilizing space efficiently.
On the basement second floor, there was a control room where one could oversee the entire underground parking lot. Monitors in the control room displayed real-time information, including how many vehicles were currently moving in for parking at five gates, how many vehicles had already entered through each gate, and their parking locations. The vehicle numbers of those being dispatched and their shipping statuses could also be monitored with a circular clock system.
In the lobby of the 'Wyndham Garden Residence Sukhumvit 42' hotel near Ekkamai subway station in Bangkok, guests were using contactless (RF‧Radio Frequency) cards to request vehicle discharge and parking. This hotel was established by the Siamese Asset Group, a major company listed on the Thai stock exchange, in 2019 and was later renovated into a hotel by Wyndham Hotels and Resorts. All guests can use the robotic automatic parking system with an RF card or their fingerprints and can check the status of their vehicle's movement in real-time on a monitor installed in the lobby cafe.
SP&Mobility has been developing robotic parking systems utilizing MPSystem since the 1990s, and it currently operates in 12 countries, with 11,183 car spaces. Thailand is a country that is rapidly adopting the robotic parking systems of MPSystem, focusing on major cities like Bangkok and Pattaya.
The high interest in robotic parking in Thailand is also related to its low-lying topographical characteristics. Utilizing MPSystem robotic parking allows for efficient allocation of parking space without needing to excavate deeply underground. Thailand is considered a low-lying country. Particularly, Bangkok, with over 10 million residents, is located near the Chao Phraya River delta, which is vulnerable to flooding. There are analyses indicating that the sea level near Bangkok is rising by 1.2 cm every year due to global warming. As there are spatial constraints preventing deep excavation, the shift towards robotic parking systems is a response to the need for parking space.
Kim Seong-ju, the deputy representative of Semper M, noted, "Using this system, it is possible to efficiently utilize space without the need to excavate deeply into the ground for parking, as is done in apartments in our country." He added, "This system is particularly suitable for countries like Thailand that have geographical characteristics where the sea level is not much different, making it impossible to excavate deeply for building construction, and thus it is receiving high interest locally."
◆ Concrete reduces concerns about electric vehicle fires
The increased attention on MPSystem is related to recent electric vehicle fires occurring in parking lots. When an electric vehicle fire erupts in an apartment parking lot or a mechanical parking lot, it is highly likely to spread throughout the entire parking area in an instant. Particularly, if a fire occurs in a mechanical parking lot constructed with a steel structure, the melting of the rebar could cause all parked vehicles to collapse at once, increasing the danger. However, MPSystem is designed to reduce damage in the event of a fire by operating individual concrete car spaces on each level using robotic transfer devices.
The interior of a car space examined in the upscale condo 'Thru Thonglor' next to Phetchaburi Road in Bangkok exemplifies this fire prevention system well. The car spaces are concrete structures on each level. A white Suzuki SUV parked in the basement was transported via a vehicle transfer device along the rails and dispatched to the ground through an elevator when the MPSystem was activated. It took about 2 minutes to complete the discharge.
Cha Jae-young, the head of team at SP&Mobility, explained, "Unlike mechanical parking lots where only the uppermost part has a sprinkler, this system is designed to block heat with concrete and has sprinklers that operate on each level, ensuring that even if a fire occurs, it can prevent the spread of a large fire." He stated that it is a technology worth paying attention to in the electric vehicle era.
◆ Lowering the ceiling height secures economic efficiency… Dubai is also impressed
MPSystem's robotic parking utilizes five specialized transfer devices tailored to different working environments, allowing for parallel vehicle placement. This means that no additional space, such as ramps for parking, is needed, allowing for more vehicles to be parked in the same area compared to self-parking lots where drivers park a vehicle themselves. For instance, introducing MPSystem into a space that can accommodate 9 vehicles in a self-parking lot can increase that capacity to 21 vehicles.
Moreover, it is not necessary to dig deeply underground to create parking lots. Due to these advantages, there is an increasing number of domestic and international sites considering the implementation of this system. A large domestic retail group is currently considering applying MPSystem to its new department store. By converting a space initially intended for a self-parking lot to MPSystem, the number of parked vehicles can increase from 2,304 to 2,478, an increase of 174 vehicles (7.5%), while the digging depth that needs to be achieved can be significantly reduced from 36.7 m to 30.7 m, a decrease of 16.3% (6 m).
Dubai Ports World, a multinational logistics company headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, has also decided to adopt the MPSystem parking system in its headquarters building currently under construction. The facility can park 985 vehicles, and it plans to enable employees to reserve parking and discharge via a Bluetooth-enabled smartphone application.
Abhiram Sitakalin, the CEO of Parkplus, which distributes MPSystem robotic parking in major Thai cities such as Bangkok and Pattaya, stated, "While there are places like China that provide similar robotic parking systems, the reason we signed a contract with MPSystem is that this system can accommodate almost every type and size of vehicle." He added, "Unlike other systems that can only fit vehicles of fixed specifications, MPSystem is the only one that can be applied to supercars like Ferraris."