BMW has completed the acquisition of Parkmobile, a provider of mobile parking services in North America, in a bid to reduce traffic by making it easier for people to find parking.

BMW has owned a minority stake in Parkmobile since 2014, but has now gained full ownership of the Atlanta-based company and its over 100 employees. The German automaker has wholly-owned Parkmobile Group Europe since April 2016.

“Up to 30 per cent of city traffic is caused by people looking for parking spaces. The acquisition of Parkmobile, LCC makes us the leading international provider of digital parking solutions and means we can better address the pain point of parking by scaling our offering for customers worldwide,” said Peter Schwarzenbauer, member of the board of management of BMW AG.

Parkmobile, which reaches more than 22m customers in Europe and North America in over 1,000 cities, helps people find and pay for parking on their mobile devices. The service can be used via an app or directly from the car, and is available to drivers of all car brands. It also helps drivers find, reserve, and pay for off-street parking in garages, as well as other transit-related services.

“The BMW Group has always been on the forefront of disruptive mobility technology,” said Jon Ziglar, CEO of Parkmobile, LLC. “Having access to new capital as well as the BMW Group’s global network of partners and customers puts us in an excellent position to accelerate our growth and expand further beyond North America. We could not imagine a better partner.”