A&L Corporation Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as A&L) received the ‘Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy’ Award’ in 2019 for contributions to the development of smartphones and advanced technology of parts and was selected as ‘KEA-led IoT Excellent Company’ in 2020. Now, it is preparing for a second leap forward by evolving from a ‘manufacturing-based company’ to an ‘ICT company’.
A&L evolved to an ICT Company
A&L established an initial infrastructure to provide platform services through strategic cooperation with network company ‘Snet’ and has been discovering and devising new business models from 3 years ago. Its evolution from a manufacturing-based company to an ICT company has been possible thanks to the ‘specialization’ of CEO Dong-jin Cho, who has secured technological competitiveness in manufacturing while supplying vehicle scanners, and Executive Director Yeon-soo Lee, who has built ICT infrastructure by operating ‘Snet’.
Through these efforts, A&L has been concentrating on product development for new business by signing MOUs with major conglomerates such as POSCO and Samsung Electronics and receiving 6 patents on core technologies. In 2018, A&L applied for a patent for the ‘Resident First Parking Zone Sharing Service System and Method’, which applied the recognition method and communication technology/data aggregation technology. In 2019, it applied for and finally completed the patent registration on the Resident First Parking Surface Management Method last year. Along with this, A&L has acquired ‘ISO 9001 certification’ to secure technology, stabilize quality services and products, and increase the reliability of quality.
A smart platforme for parking space
The quarrel between neighbors due to the narrow parking space has always been going. Narrow parking spaces are leading to social problems since they not only worsen pedestrian conditions due to parking on the back road but also make it difficult for firefighting trucks to enter in the event of emergency fire. A&L is developing a more realistic and effective “Resident First Parking Sharing Service” to solve these problems. This new form of service to be built as a smart platform can increase user convenience through vehicle recognition hardware, sensors, and wireless communication technology while enhancing operational efficiency through automated real-time management of parking zones. Through big data processing, the service can also analyze the patterns of areas to predict the space and time of use. Director Yeon-soo Lee of A&L said, “Most of the existing mobile apps and services were about finding parking and providing cost information. But our platform service not only identifies the location of parking zones but also finds empty space in outdoor parking lots, analyze departure information, or make reservations and payments.”
A&L’s “Residential-First Parking Sharing Service” goes beyond a simple platform and can recognize whether a parked vehicle has been requested for use in advance, detect the presence of an illegally parked vehicle in real time, and provide information. When the parking space is registered and the available time is set on the platform, the resident’s device registers the parking space, and the vehicle recognition sensor detects the parking status and location of the vehicle. Moreover, the platform can provide various parking information and use information through the analysis of real-time use area and user pattern log, thus contributing to enhancing urban space use and revitalizing the sharing economy. A&L plans to launch this platform technology in 2022.
A&L dreams of becoming an ‘all maker’ that can lead digital transformation (DT) by transcending the limitations of manufacturing companies in the mobility sector. “Through the parking sharing service for domestic residents, we plan to expand the market based on the shared economy by securing parking spaces, improving awareness of the parking system, and linking with various fields such as vehicle maintenance, insurance companies, services for using nearby commercial areas, and establishing a car sharing base,” CEO Dong-jin Cho said. He also added that the company’s wish to create a ‘comfortable world to live’ for all citizens.
