Charlottesville’s two downtown parking garages began operating with “Metropolis Technologies” — an artificial intelligence system — in December. Since its integration, concerns about data security and privacy have been expressed by City residents.
With the automated system in place, drivers must register their vehicle with Metropolis with an app or on the system’s website some time during their parking stay. Information collected includes the driver’s name, phone number, email address, credit card information and license plate number. After registration, the system automatically charges customers by using a “computer vision platform” that identifies vehicles entering and exiting the parking garages.
In a statement to The Cavalier Daily, Metropolis characterized the project as a collaborative endeavor between the company and City interests, referencing operational problems within the Market Street and Water Street garages downtown. Nick Rosen-Wachs, Metropolis vice president of communications, said that the broad goal of the deployment is to modernize the City’s largest parking garages and address the chronic issues associated with the garages, including “fumbling with tickets” or “waiting in lines.” The technology allows drivers who go to either garage to seamlessly drive in and drive out without the use of tickets, paper slips or queues.
Metropolis is a Santa Monica-based parking technology company, which became the largest parking network and operator in North America after acquiring SP+, a major industry competitor that had been contracted to manage the City’s parking garages, in May 2024. Metropolis bought SP+ the same year, hence how Charlottesville came to work with Metropolis.
Metropolis describes this process as creating a “vehicle fingerprint” using a vehicle’s unique characteristics and matching it with drivers’ registered payment information. Rosen-Wachs confirmed that Metropolis’s data collection procedures prioritize user control and respect the privacy of consumers.
“In terms of data, we operate on a principle of data minimization — we only collect the necessary data to ensure a seamless entry and exit: name, license plate, vehicle information, phone number, email address and payment information,” Rosen-Wachs said. “To confirm, Metropolis has never sold data — all data collected is strictly used for the purpose of providing our services.”
Charlottesville City Council Member Michael Payne has been vocal about his opposition to the new system in City Council meetings and in several news articles covering the transition. In a statement to The Cavalier Daily, he characterized the business model of Metropolis as establishing a monopoly position within the nation for parking garage management, using AI to collect data on every car that utilizes their parking garages. Payne said the system monetizes the resulting national data set by selling to other companies and advertisers.
“My largest concern is that it forces any Charlottesville resident who uses our parking garages into a system of AI-based mass surveillance,” Payne said. “My reaction after doing preliminary research on Metropolis is that [the] City government's use of the technology would be a waste of money, inconvenience users of the parking garages, likely result in users getting overcharged and introduce privacy risks for Charlottesville residents.”
City Council was unaware that a new system was being installed in the downtown parking garages, according to Payne. The switch occurred after Metropolis's acquisition of SP+, the company the City had previously contracted to manage its garages. This means the shift happened without any council vote or public notice, because it had already begun working with SP+ prior to the acquisition. Charlottesville City Mayor Juandiego Wade explained that City Council was not involved in the implementation process of Metropolis.
“We had a company that is contracted to run our garage system, and it is a system that they took on. They didn't run it by us or anything like that,” Wade said. “It was already in motion. It was too late to change. It may have already been installed.”
Within hours of going live in December, Metropolis experienced issues in the Water Street and Market Street garages downtown when City residents reported being charged incorrect rates at a City Council meeting in January, and a payment issue occurred as a result of a mix-up between similar license plates.
In response to public concern, Charlottesville purchased additional kiosks to allow drivers to pay traditionally without creating a Metropolis account. However, all vehicles entering the garages are still subject to Metropolis's camera system regardless of whether the driver is registered with Metropolis or plans to use the physical kiosks.
Payne shared that early users and residents voiced their worries to City Council by various means. Specifically, he explained that privacy was a large concern, and there were instances of drivers reporting that they were overcharged.
“Almost everyone who reached out was opposed to [the use of Metropolis] by the City,” Payne said. “Downtown businesses also reached out to express concerns that fewer people would want to use the parking garages due to privacy concerns and concerns about getting overcharged.”
According to Payne, the City’s expenditure is likely to increase as a result of the transition. He explained that Metropolis is approaching “monopoly power” within the market, meaning that the company faces very little competition and is positioning itself as the sole provider of its services. The firm has also received billions of dollars in funding from private equity, Payne said, which can lead to increased costs for the City as company goals prioritize profitability.
“Once systems like these establish a dominant market position, they can easily increase the annual fees charged to Charlottesville and force the technology itself to be upgraded on faster timelines,” Payne said. “Does it really provide any benefit to users of the garages as compared to a parking lot attendant that warrants the increased costs and invasion of privacy?”
The use of AI technology by City authorities — especially as it pertains to the introduction of Metropolis — has prompted broader questions about how the City should approach AI and surveillance technology. Wade acknowledged that AI has become an unavoidable feature of infrastructure and that City Council is working to address the new challenge of AI integration.
“I think that it's a part of our economy now, a part of our society — AI and camera usage — but we just have to be judicious and deliberate in how we use it, and we're learning that as a council,” Wade said.
Payne echoed this sentiment, while also calling for more tangible results. He pointed to previous incidents of the City introducing Flock Safety and Peregrine Technologies — both of which were ultimately discontinued in Charlottesville.
Flock is an automated license plate reader, which the Charlottesville Police Department used to identify vehicles connected to criminal activity. Peregrine is focused on data analytics as it pertains to law enforcement operations. The City ultimately decided against the use of both technologies due to concerns about data security, privacy and potential misuse.
Payne claimed that formal policy for data collection and privacy protection might prevent future controversy, especially in light of increasing AI usage.
“The reality is, AI is going to increasingly become part of workplaces throughout the country,” Payne said. “But as we've seen with Flock, Peregrine and Metropolis, what specific technologies are deployed, and what they're used for, has a tremendous impact on whether the use of AI tools better serves citizens, or creates significant risks to civil liberties and privacy.”
The Metropolis contract with Charlottesville is set to run through 2029. Drivers who enter the Market Street and Water Street parking garages can pay using the system or, alternatively, at physical kiosks.
Read More
UBE Chair Ella Gilmore begins term in midst of Student Council presidential election appeal
By Jaylynn Perez | 1 hours agoObjectives detailed by Gilmore include communication with University administration, overseeing the UBE’s budget, increasing student engagement and conducting an annual internal review.
From the Archives: Entertainers on Grounds
By Emily Nevils and Alayjah Gillus | 11 hours agoProlific jazz musicians Woody Herman and Chris Barber, also known as “the Louis Armstrong of Europe”, set out to perform exhilarating renditions of their hits on Grounds at Cabell Hall
Honor Committee and UJC implicit bias training discontinued, according to compliance report
By Isabela Delgado | Yesterday“The Honor Committee and the University Judiciary Committee no longer organize or offer implicit bias training for their members that include impermissible content regarding race or other protected characteristics,” the report stated.
