Gone are the days of a guy sitting in a booth, exchanging parking passes for cash. Gone is the ticket machine for your credit card. Gone is pretty much everything — except AI-powered cameras and your cell phone.

Welcome to the world of fully automated parking lots, Baltimore.

Metropolis, a fast-growing California tech company founded in 2017, says it now has almost 100 locations in the Baltimore metropolitan area. According to its website, Metropolis has more than 4,600 locations nationwide, making it the country’s biggest parking operator.

The Metropolis footprint in Baltimore includes everything from garages at Harbor Point and downtown to a relatively small strip of asphalt behind Ekiben in Hampden.

To park with Metropolis, you need to register your car online or with an iPhone app. There’s no ticket stub or kiosk. Instead, there’s a sign with a QR code. A camera takes a picture of your car as you enter to park, and the company’s artificial intelligence-powered system automatically bills you when you leave.

The goal is a seamless parking experience, said Chris Sherman, Metropolis’ chief commercial officer, meaning no more fumbling for a wallet or losing a ticket stub.

Metropolis has been in Baltimore since 2024. That year, Metropolis acquired SP+, a large parking lot operator that already had a footprint in the city. Sherman, who grew up in Dundalk, was working in Baltimore for SP+ at the time of the acquisition.

A few Metropolis locations, like at Camden Yards, are still under the SP+ brand, Sherman said, but the company has migrated about 80% of its locations onto the Metropolis digital platform, and the Baltimore region is one of the company’s top markets.

Metropolis is not done growing. Last fall, the company raised $1.6 billion in debt and equity and has ambitions to use its technology in other industries. Sherman said the next steps could be integrating Metropolis’ “frictionless” customer interface with drive-through restaurants, gas stations or electric vehicle charging stations.

As it has grown across the country, Metropolis has faced criticism and even lawsuits over its business practices. In Texas, an attorney filed a class-action lawsuit against Metropolis in 2024, claiming it charged exorbitant fines and used aggressive debt collection techniques. Court records show a federal judge dismissed the case, but the plaintiffs are appealing.

The company has inspired local chatter on Reddit and social media, with some complaining that it’s hard to understand the charges and others praising how easy it is to use. “I don’t know what’s wrong with hiring a parking attendant,” one Reddit user said.

A spokesperson for Metropolis said the company has faced “increased scrutiny” as the nation’s largest parking operator, but its customer reviews are overwhelmingly positive.

“Our dedicated teams actively monitor and address feedback in real-time, using each interaction to refine our technology and operations,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “This commitment to improvement, combined with our scale, allows us to learn and adapt quickly, ensuring we’re delivering the remarkable experience our customers expect.”