Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles cut the ribbon Thursday on the city’s first interactive digital kiosk, installed at the corner of 5th Street and Beatties Ford Road in Five Points Plaza. The touch-screen unit, operated by IKE Smart City, offers wayfinding, local business listings and an emergency call button, and it marks the debut of what’s planned as a 30-kiosk network stretching across Charlotte’s busiest corridors.
Lyles celebrated the milestone in a post on X, writing that the kiosks “will make it easier for residents and visitors to find information, navigate our city and stay connected while they’re out and about,” and calling it “another step toward a more connected” Charlotte, according to a post from Mayor Vi Lyles. The Beatties Ford Road kiosk’s touch screen currently displays wayfinding information alongside a promotion for nearby Uptown Mart and a rotating piece of local art — Maria Napier’s 2024 work “Park View” — alongside its emergency and touch-screen features.
Today we celebrate the ribbon cutting for IKE Smart City’s digital kiosks in Charlotte. These kiosks will make it easier for residents and visitors to find information, navigate our city and stay connected while they’re out and about.Another step toward a more connected,… pic.twitter.com/eWefUFgUZo
— Mayor Rob Harrington (@CLTMayor) August 20, 2026
A Citywide Rollout Years in the Making
The single kiosk at Five Points Plaza is the first physical installation from a much larger plan. According to WCNC, the city intends to deploy 30 interactive kiosks total across high-traffic areas designated as Corridors of Opportunity and Municipal Service Districts, including South End, University City, West Boulevard, SouthPark and Beatties Ford Road…