The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is evaluating two technologies that would provide truckers on the road with real-time information on available parking.
The agency will issue a report next spring evaluating the technologies in Phase One of the Smartpark program. The agency invested $1 million in this phase, and the results will determine whether there is a second phase, says FMCSA spokeswoman Melissa DeLaney.
The agency wants the technologies to report reliably, in all weather conditions, whether parking is available. The National Transportation Safety Board recommended the project in 2000, saying the lack of safe, available parking contributed to driver fatigue.
Two Massachusetts companies, Foster-Miller of Waltham and Vehicle Sense of Cambridge, are contractors for the project, which does not involve building more parking spaces.
