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. 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.  When it was spun out from Google last year, Sidewalk Labs promised to improve urban living by creating "smart cities." 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." 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. 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. In addition, drivers would be directed towards empty spaces that they may not have otherwise found simply driving around the streets they know. 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." 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. The price of these spaces would vary dependent on demand, going up near leisure facilities on weekends, for example, and down in business districts. 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. Update: Sidewalk Labs has responded to the Guardian's report, saying that Flow is not about disinvesting in public transport. 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. 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. 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. 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 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. “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.
– 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.