By Shawn Conrad, CAE

On November 1, 1948, Henry S. Truman, the Democratic candidate for President of the United States, went to bed thinking about the inevitable—that he would lose the election to Thomas E. Dewey. The outcome was so certain, the Chicago Daily Tribune printed the infamous headline, “Dewey Defeats Truman.”

This same scenario came to mind while attending a conference on the future of autonomous vehicles, which included a presentation that featured Roamy Valera, CAPP, of SP+; Kirk Strassman of Xerox; Kevin Uhlenhaker of NuPark; and Qualcomm’s George Wong. While many in the audience might have expected a defensive attitude from the panel, what they heard instead was how parking and the tools parking professionals use are revolutionizing the way transportation is evolving in cities around the globe.

The parking panel discussion made it clear to the audience that using a parking professional’s expertise can be a pivotal part of mobility’s future. And that’s a headline we can be proud to wake up to.

Shawn Conrad, CAE, is IPI’s CEO.