This study presents policy strategies to introduce a smart parking system in Seoul. To this end, this study investigated current parking facilities and existing policies in Seoul, and predicted future parking environment in considering the impact of autonomous vehicles.

First, we suggest future parking policies in Seoul considering regional characteristics and the advent of new technologies. Thanks to autonomous driving, the capacity of parking lots is expected to increase significantly in the future. Especially, surplus parking space is expected in CBDs (Central Business Districts) where parking facilities for buildings are concentrated. Therefore, the downtown areas need to improve the efficiency of the existing parking spaces rather than expanding the parking infrastructures. Specifically, (i) the buildings parking lots need to be optimised to accommodate the parking demand in the area, (ii) the existing street parking space should be converted or sold for better land use, and (iii) a ‘smart parking system’ should be introduced to improve the parking facilities efficiency. On the other hand, additional parking spaces should be consistently in the residential areas.

Second, specific strategies are presented for Seoul’s smart parking system that aims to improve the efficiency of parking infrastructure using various parking information. We pay attention to the cutting-edge parking platforms by private companies and how the citizens utilise the parking information, and recommend the smart parking system in Seoul be installed on private platforms with integrated public parking information rather than launching additional public parking platforms. Instead, the public sector needs to expand the concept of “public parking information” to include all parking infrastructure in Seoul since the private parking platforms do not provide less profitable parking information such as out-of-town district or small parking lots information. Based on Seoul's smart parking system, integrating private and public parking information, an advanced mobility platform for the entire city transportation could be developed in the future.