Sidewalk Labs, a secretive subsidiary of Alphabet, wants to radically overhaul public parking and transportation in American cities, emails and documents obtained by the Guardian reveal. 
 
 
 
 Its high-tech services, which it calls “new superpowers to extend access and mobility”, could make it easier to drive and park in cities and create hybrid public/private transit options that rely heavily on ride-share services such as Uber. But they might also gut traditional bus services and require cities to invest heavily in Google’s own technologies, experts fear. 
 
 Sidewalk is initially offering its cloud software, called Flow, to Columbus, Ohio, the winner of a recent $50m Smart City Challenge organized by the US Department of Transportation. 
 
 Using public records laws, the Guardian obtained dozens of emails and documents submitted to Challenge cities by Sidewalk Labs, detailing many technologies and proposals that have not previously been made public. 
 
 Some will be controversial, including spending transport subsidies for low-income residents on ride-sharing services such as Uber, requiring cities to upgrade to Sidewalk’s mobile payments system, and modernizing public parking to boost city revenues. 
 
 Sidewalk Labs was spun out from Google last June with a mission to “improve city life for everyone”. Since then, it was part of a consortium that deployed several hundred free Wi-Fi kiosks in New York and is rumoured to be designing a city from the ground up for self-driving cars. Now, it’s offering Columbus a three-year demonstration project consisting of 100 Wi-Fi kiosks and free access to Flow. 
 
 “When governments and technologists collaborate, there is an enormous potential to reimagine the way we approach urban mobility,” said Anand Babu, COO of Sidewalk Labs, in a statement to The Guardian. 
 
 The emails and documents show that Flow applies Google’s expertise in mapping, machine learning and big data to thorny urban problems such as public parking. Numerous studies have found that 30% of traffic in cities is due to drivers seeking parking. 
 
 Sidewalk said in documents that Flow would use camera-equipped vehicles, like Google’s Street View cars, to count all the public parking spaces in a city and read roadside parking signs. It would then combine data from drivers using Google Maps with live information from city parking meters to estimate which spaces were still free. Arriving drivers would be directed to empty spots. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Flow would use data obtained from camera-equipped vehicles about parking availability with live information from city parking meters to estimate where spaces are available. Photograph: Sidewalk Labs 
 
 “Only Google or Apple are in a position to track parking occupancy this way, without expensive sensors on poles or embedded in the tarmac,” says Alexei Pozdnoukhov, director of the Smart Cities Research Center at the University of California at Berkeley. 
 
 Sidewalk also hopes to persuade private parking garages to add their spaces to Flow’s database, and even proposes something called “virtualised parking”. A bit like Airbnb for cars, this would allow retailers and offices to temporarily rent private parking spaces usually reserved for shoppers and workers. “This module will be your public relations winner,” Sidewalk claimed in a marketing document. It estimates each virtualised space will be worth $2,000 a year to the city. 
 
 Flow would also vary the cost of parking spaces according to demand. On weekends, prices might drop in business areas while they climb near music venues. Sidewalk claims this would increase income from parking by 10%. 
 
 However, Pozdnoukhov says that variable pricing is far from proven. “It could mean real congestion relief across cities ... but a pilot project in San Francisco was not very well received,” he says. “If Sidewalk can show value to drivers, it could be a different game, but that’s easier said than done.” 
 
 Flow packs sticks as well as carrots. An “optimised parking enforcement” module would use AI algorithms to calculate the most lucrative routes for parking cops, earning a medium-sized city another $4m in fines. 
 
 Sidewalk also wants to redefine public transport. Flow Transit would integrate information and payment for almost every form of transport into Google Maps. Choose a destination and the app will estimate a journey price and duration using everything from buses and taxis to Uber, Lyft, car-share services like Zipcar and even bike-shares. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Flow would integrate information and payment for almost every form of transport. Photograph: Sidewalk Labs 
 
 “This idea makes sense in general,” says Carlo Ratti, director of the Senseable City Lab at MIT. “It is important however, that such a platform be open to multiple players.” While Sidewalk did not rule out other partners, its documents focused on Google apps. One said, “During the demo period, the [city’s] data platform includes… data exchange with one party - starting with Google.” 
 
 For the demo, Sidewalk wants 90,000 low-income transit users, who might currently be given discounted or free bus passes, to be able to spend those subsidies on ride-share services instead. 
 
 Pozdnoukhnov worries that this would threaten traditional bus services: “The problem is that this money will end up with Uber rather than the transit agencies, undermining their existence. The only public systems that will survive will be light rail and subways.” 
 
 Columbus would receive 1% of the revenue from the app, earning about $2.25m annually according to Sidewalk. Sidewalk did not disclose its cut. Google owns about 5% of Uber. 
 
 For Flow to work, Sidewalk has to seamlessly charge and pay many different users and vendors. Sidewalk’s memorandum of understanding (MOU) contract, seen by the Guardian, requires that cities distribute transit subsidies through Sidewalk, and accept the company’s mobile payments for all existing transit and parking services. 
 
 Cities like Columbus would be obliged to bring parking signs up to date, re-train enforcement officers and share parking and ridership information with Sidewalk in real time. The company also wants cities to share public transport data with ride-sharing companies, allowing Uber to direct cars to overcrowded bus stops. 
 
 All these conditions could mean expensive upgrades to existing technology. “Not every city would be ready to do that,” says Pozdnoukhnov. “Plus, you’ve got a variety of transit operators. Small ones might have to change their entire payment systems.” 
 
 The contract glosses over likely political resistance to Google transforming and managing city services. “During the demo period,” it reads, “the City will be responsible for … clearing policy hurdles in order to make implementations possible.” For instance, Sidewalk requires cities signing it to establish policies allowing minimum parking requirements to be reduced for developers or businesses contributing to the transit fund. Demand-based pricing for parking could also require legislative action. 
 
 If Columbus signs up, Sidewalk wants to start swapping data with the city by August, implement dynamic parking by January and launch its shared mobility marketplace by next July. 
 
 Columbus now has to decide whether it wants all or any of Sidewalk’s services. “The Flow system is definitely something we see real value in,” says Rory McGuiness of the city of Columbus. “But we have not [yet] signed any agreements with them.” ||||| When it was spun out from Google last year, Sidewalk Labs promised to improve urban living by creating "smart cities." Now, in documents obtained by the Guardian, we've got an idea of exactly how the Alphabet company envisions these cities will work. In proposals offered to Columbus, Ohio — the winner of the $40 million Smart City challenge award organized by the US Department of Transport — Sidewalk Labs says it will use camera-equipped cars to keep track of empty private parking spaces and offer them for short-term rental, and combine various methods of transport under one app, integrating car-sharing services, bus routes, and even bike lanes to create a new kind of public transport. 
 
 The company is reportedly offering Columbus a three-year trial of its capabilities, bringing 100 Wi-Fi kiosks as well as systems it says are "new superpowers to extend access and mobility." The project is built around Sidewalk Labs' Flow software, introduced earlier this year as a tool designed to manage congestion and parking problems, with an eye to the eventual introduction of self-driving cars. Using Flow and data from Google Maps' camera cars, Sidewalk Labs could tally all the parking spaces in a city, then using data from drivers and parking meters to estimate whether they would be free in real-time. 
 
 Parking is estimated to be responsible for 30 percent of city traffic 
 
 It makes sense that Sidewalk Labs would target parking first in overhauling urban transport — drivers searching for parking are estimated to be responsible for 30 percent of city traffic — but the documents show that the company also has plans to open up new spaces previously unavailable to the public. The company aims to convince private garages to open up their spaces when not in use, adding new listings to the Flow database as what Sidewalk Labs called "virtualized parking." The price of these spaces would vary dependent on demand, going up near leisure facilities on weekends, for example, and down in business districts. 
 
 Sidewalk Labs is selling the concept as a "public relations winner" that will also pay its own way, each parking space bringing in about $2,000 a year to cities. But less of a PR victory would be its "optimized parking enforcement" module, which works out the best route for law enforcement agents to take to monitor illegal parking — Sidewalk Labs says it could earn a medium-sized city up to $4 million a year in fines. 
 
 This parking scheme comes alongside an ambitious plan to fold various transportation options together under one app, called Flow Transit. The software sounds like a beefed-up Google Maps, offering full directions, as well as estimated price and duration, for routes that use buses and taxis as well as car-sharing services like Lyft and Uber. Payment would even be possible inside the app, and for its demonstration period, Sidewalk Labs requests that 90,000 low-income Flow Transit users are given subsidies. 
 
 Buses could be threatened by Flow Transit 
 
 Flow Transit could help simplify transport and condense the myriad travel apps into one source, but some have expressed concern about Alphabet's monopoly on both the data and the income from the potential smart city. The proposal requires that demo cities give out subsidies and take payment for all transport and parking services through Sidewalk Labs' systems, locking out competing companies and essentially privatizing public travel under the aegis of Alphabet. Buses and other traditional public transport sources could also be threatened, too, as money that would normally be spent on bus passes and other tickets goes to Uber instead — which the Guardian notes Google owns around five percent of. 
 
 The city of Columbus is expected to receive one percent of the revenue from Flow Transit, or about $2.25 million a year — Sidewalk Labs did not say how much it would be taking in — but it would also be expected to re-train police officers, update road infrastructure, and constantly share data with the company. Sidewalk Labs also expects its partners to take the lead in political moves, expecting them to be responsible for "clearing policy hurdles in order to make implementations possible." If the Ohio city does see value in Sidewalk Labs' vision of a future city, it could reportedly put its parking plan into practice as soon as next January, with its Flow Transit app working from July. ||||| As part of the competition, Columbus will be handed Sidewalk's traffic-management software, Flow, free of charge. The product is designed to monitor traffic levels using Google Maps and Waze, with the data coming out the other side used to improve transit routes. Another proposal that Sidewalk is proposing is a unified transit-map app that would compare the journey times and prices of various transportation options. That would make it similar to the app Citymapper, which often thinks around traditional mapping routes for more efficient outcomes. 
 
 As for the issue of parking, the proposals suggest that vacant lots would be turned into a market, similar to that of Uber. For instance, on busy days when everyone is heading into town, surge pricing would be activated to help manage demand. In addition, drivers would be directed towards empty spaces that they may not have otherwise found simply driving around the streets they know. In future, private garages and office lots (which are often unused on weekends) could be added to the system. The software isn't all good, however, and would narc on you if you've outstayed your welcome -- making it easier for futuristic parking attendants to fine you. 
 
 It's fair to say that Alphabet may not be working in this space entirely out of a civic-minded desire to improve cities for the better. After all, it (and by it, we mean Google's venture fund) quietly holds a stake in Uber and has its own, well-publicized project to develop a self-driving car that could operate as a cab. The paper also quotes MIT's Carlo Ratti, who voiced a concern that Alphabet is effectively building itself a monopoly by not opening its platform up to other companies. 
 
 There's also the issue that, in order to implement the proposals, Columbus will have to spend enormous sums of public money to make itself ready for the technology. And yet, the report believes that the city would only receive around $2.25 million for all of its trouble. Fortunately, nothing has yet been agreed, and it looks like some more scrutiny around the details could be worth everyone's time. 
 
 Update: Sidewalk Labs has responded to the Guardian's report, saying that Flow is not about disinvesting in public transport. The company also provided Engadget with the following quote:
– Is Google trying to destroy America's public transportation system? It's possible, reports the Guardian, which obtained documents from Sidewalk Labs, a Google spinoff and "secretive subsidiary" of Alphabet. Columbus, Ohio, beat out more than 70 other cities for a chance to work with Sidewalk Labs and its Flow software, according to Columbus Business First. Sidewalk Labs and Flow would drastically change how people get around and park in the city. One of the most eye-catching parts of its plans, as laid out in the documents obtained by the Guardian, is redirecting public money that usually goes to subsidies for low-income residents to ride the bus to subsidies for them to ride Uber and other ride-sharing services. The Verge calls this “essentially privatizing public travel under the aegis of Alphabet.” And Engadget points out Alphabet has an interest in steering people away from the bus and toward ride-sharing, as it owns part of Uber and is developing a self-driving car for taxi-like services. Other parts of Sidewalk Labs' plans include mapping public parking spaces and directing drivers to empty spots, requiring cities to take parking payments through its own software, and charging more for parking during in-demand times (something Engadget compares to Uber surge pricing). It also has plans for an Airbnb-like system for renting private parking spots to drivers. Experts warn all of this would make cities beholden to Alphabet for basic services and require large investments of public money. Sidewalk Labs says it just wants to help.