There are various examples of car sharing programs around the world and Austin has had its own community scheme in the past but are we now at a cross roads where rising fuel costs combined with new technology including smartphones and GPS are making a new business model possible.  Will this model be more successful than previous schemes?  

Daimler Benz thinks so and have entered the market place with CAR2GO.

CAR2GO uses Smart for 2 cars.  They have 15,000 members in Austin and 300 vehicles.  Each car has an online GPS which can be monitored from your CAR2GO smartphone app so you can easily track down the nearest available car.  When you join, you receive a smart card and the GPS also has a proximity sensor which gives access to the car and combined with your Pin number gives secure access for members to vehicles.  

Members hire the vehicles for 35 cents a minute all inclusive of maintenance, fuel, insurance and cleaning.

You “log in” to the car with the touch screen console to start your hire and the log in process asks users to report the condition of the car and any damage.

A roving maintenance crew keep the cars clean, maintained and fuelled up and return them to central parking lots to keep the cars evenly distributed across the city.

So for the business model is looking successful at Austin and two other pilot cities, Hamburg and Ulm in Germany. CAR2GO are looking to announce a number of new sites in North America next month and a new pilot using all electric Smart for 2’s in Amsterdam is being rolled out by the end of the year.

Wayne Prangnell, 2011

Access the car with your smart card and login with the touch screen to start your hire and release the key. This is a well though through system.