21st Century Parking

Avoid parking tickets — and feeding the meter — with Austin's new app

The ParkX app allows you to purchase and add time to a metered parking spot without having to use a pay station.

You’ve probably experienced this before: You’re at a meeting downtown and you realize that your parking meter is almost up. You rush to feed the meter and discover either you made it on time — hallelujah; didn’t make it on time and have a ticket; or the ghastly heat made your sticker fall off the window, and now you have a ticket.

The latter happened to me last week. Miffed, I vowed to fight the $20 ticket at the courthouse. At my hearing, a friendly officer dismissed my ticket and suggested I try the City of Austin’s new parking app, ParkX, to avoid future parking mishaps.

Launched in April after a successful pilot program in West Campus, ParkX allows drivers to purchase and add time to any city-owned metered parking spot without having to use a pay station.

The process is simple: To set it up, users input their car and billing information. When the time comes to park, users enter the parking space and zone numbers and purchase time (the app will not let you go over the maximum time designated in that parking area, though you can add time if allowed). This notifies the parking enforcement officer that you have paid.

ParkX then notifies users that their meter is about to expire, and it can produce expense reports of parking usage. The app is available to both Apple and Android users, but if a user doesn’t have a smartphone they can call or text “park” to 512-838-3874.

The city and ParkX are still working out some kinks, but the app continues to improve. For people who frequently park in metered spots, not only does ParkX help in eliminating the potential for parking tickets, but it also cuts back on waste by eliminating stickers and that annoying residue stickers leave behind on your windows, ultimately making parking a breeze.

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Self-driving Roller Coaster

More self-driving cars expected to roll out in Austin for 2025

Photo courtesy of Waymo via KVUE

Various brands offering self-driving cars are on-and-off in Austin.

Expect to see more self-driving rideshare vehicles, also known as robotaxis, on Austin roads next year.

Robotaxi company Waymo, which you may have already seen on Austin's roads, is partnering with Uber. At some point next year, customers will be able to use the Uber app to call a self-driving ride.

Austin-based company Avride is in the testing phase and plans to roll out its robotaxis next year.

Currently, Volkswagen ADMT and Amazon's Zoox are in the testing phase in Austin, while Hyundai's Motional is in the mapping phase.

Last year, robotaxi company Cruise paused operations in Austin after the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the company's permits to operate driverless vehicles in the state. And last week, General Motors said it would no longer fund the company because of the time and resources needed.

This way of getting around has come with its safety concerns and issues. The city is tracking those concerns. According to the Transportation Department, the problems span from blocking the roads and parking in front of people's homes for weeks with lights beaming through their windows, to actual wrecks.

Since July 2023, robotaxis have been involved in 75 incidents. Only 21 of those incidents happened in 2024. It's important to note that Cruise has not been operating in Austin this year.

Since July 2023, driverless rideshare vehicles have been involved in 22 near collisions, eight collisions and seven instances where driverless taxis ignored directions from the Austin Police Department (APD).

According to the data, at least four of those Austin police incidents happened in recent months. The issues varied from driving through police checkpoints, to malfunctioning and getting stuck at an APD road closure near pedestrians, causing safety concerns.

A Waymo spokesperson said their vehicles have gesture recognition capabilities, which they've been training APD officers on using.

As the report shows, sometimes it does not work and Waymo said it is working to improve that. The spokesperson said that as of just last week, Waymo's First Responder Program has been independently verified by TÜV SÜD, making Waymo the first autonomous vehicle (AV) company to receive third-party validation for our emergency response protocols. They also said the data to date indicates the Waymo Driver is already reducing traffic injuries and fatalities in the places where the company currently operates.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

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