Heidelberg is using a scanning car against illegal parking for the first time!

Heidelberg is using a scanning car against illegal parking for the first time!

From September 18, 2025, Heidelberg will be the first city in Germany to officially go on the offensive against parking offenders with an innovative scanning car. The city with around 155,000 inhabitants in Baden-Württemberg has launched a pilot project to increase traffic safety and make traffic monitoring more efficient. This new vehicle will be used in two districts of the city to detect parked cars without a valid parking permit, such as missing digital parking permits or resident parking permits, such as the Borken newspaper reported.

However, in an initial test operation, parking offenders will not be fined for the time being. The city administration sees this step as a sensible measure to inform citizens about the new regulations and to raise awareness of correct parking. Baden-Württemberg was the first federal state to create the legal framework to be able to use such scanning vehicles effectively.

Efficient control

With the impressive ability to check up to 1,000 vehicles per hour, the scan car shows its potential as a modern surveillance tool. In addition, city employees traveling on foot could, in the best case scenario, only inspect about 50 vehicles in the same time. Transport Minister Winfried Hermann (Greens) emphasizes the advantages of the technology, especially with regard to safety for children, older people and people with restricted mobility, according to the Heise News.

The scanning car is equipped with special cameras that capture license plates from parked cars and compare this information with a database. This means you can immediately see whether a parking ticket has been solved. This technology not only ensures more order in road traffic, but also relieves the burden on the city's security service employees, such as those who work in many cities, including Mannheim, Freiburg and Karlsruhe. In Mannheim, for example, 55 employees work in security services, while 29 work in Freiburg and 25 in Karlsruhe Allgäu newspaper notes.

Outlook for further operations

There is great enthusiasm for this technology in other cities. The city administrations in Heilbronn and Freiburg are also interested in using the scanning vehicles, while no use is currently planned in Karlsruhe for economic reasons. After positive feedback from biotests in other countries, such as France and the Netherlands, the project could also serve as a model for other German municipalities.

Overall, with this pilot project, Heidelberg is at the forefront of modern traffic control in Germany. Let's watch with interest to see what influence the scanning car will have on traffic regulations and parking behavior in the city. This measure could soon fundamentally change traffic monitoring on the roads.