Car Sharing

Basics

• A system of Car Rental / Community Ownership, where rather than each person having a car, they use it when needed
• Can be especially relevant for non-routine use (ie the area is Walkable / public transit is available for some things, but a car may be needed for longer trips), or for specialty vehicles ( (mini-)vans for people, or cargo vans or pickup trucks/flatbeds for cargo)
• Thus each person essentially has a fleet of cars for them to use!
• There are many services, but two main "categories/types" of sorts
  • Fixed Location(s)
  • Peer to Peer (Just park it, and leave it for the next person to pick up)
• They are also usually managed/interacted with online via a website and/or app

Existing Services

• Quick Reference/Source on this

Turo

• Type: Peer to Peer
• Monthly Fee (No for driver, and no for vehicle owner)
• Price: Free to sign up as a driver and free to post your vehicle to rent. If rental owners opt for Turo Go, the hardware installation costs $190 and currently doesn’t have a subscription fee.
• Rental rates: Daily rental rates start at about $20 for older and smaller vehicles but can easily top $100 for premium models.
• How much rental owners keep: Rental owners keep 65%, 75%, or 85% of the rental rate depending on the vehicle protection plan picked.
• Mileage limitation: Since it is set by the owner, mileage limitations can range from as little as 100 miles a day to unlimited miles. The normal amount is 200 miles per day, and if you want more you have the option to pay additional for it.
• Gas: Not included. Drivers pay for their gas and must return the rental with the same amount.
• Rental length: Turo only offers daily rentals; minute and hourly rates are not available.

ZipCar

• Type: Fixed Locations
• Monthly Fee (No for driver, and yes for vehicle owner (+ requires unlock hardware) )
• May just be rental, need to find more info on car owner side

Getaround

• Type: Peer to Peer
• Monthly Fee (Yes for driver, and no for vehicle owner (+ requires unlock hardware) )

Enterprise CarShare

• Type: Fixed Locations
• Monthly Fee (No for driver, and yes for vehicle owner )
• May just be rental, need to find more info on car owner side

HyreCar

• Aimed at work in the Gig Economy
• Only key transfer (and maybe key lock box) available

Open Source/Free Alternative

MVP

• FLOSS (need to look into hosting and how all that would work)
• Peer-to-Peer and Fixed Location(s) Supported
• No Monthly Fee (Maybe transaction fee, again largely dependent on hosting)
• Both on demand usage, and reservation based systems supported
• Support for:
  • Face to Face Key Exchange
  • Key Lockbox Based Key Exchange
  • Some sort of wireless unlock (need to try and plot security wise (rfid/bluetooth/wifi etc may be *very* venerable to hacking/password theft etc?)
• App (For Android, and iOS (ios is odd with their app store so that may be less possible) and Website
• Allow car owners to have a profile/management system where they can decide how they want to do it + enter all info, and thus create all the tags for the prospective users to filter through
• Maybe add some sort of long term maintenance cost / driven distance added pricing to take care of that issue?
• Probably require fuel up and/or maybe just reimbursement (so you don't constantly fill up when at 85% capacity etc)
• Hourly and Daily Rates (+ car owner designations for what is allowable)
• No in-car smoking allowed, probably make some sort of "code of conduct" with penalty/ban and/or just cleanup fee to discourage/prevent people from leaving it a mess

Need to figure out / look into's

• Liability / Insurance (does the car owner's insurance cover/deal with that + how does that work, also fees for minor scratches / flats etc?)
• Exact Pricing Equation / Model
• Specifics of Code of Conduct and/or Penalties etc
• How keyless access should work (if adopted)
• Hosting / Money Transfer etc
• Congestion Pricing and/or Incentives for more people per vehicle / using "the best tool for the job" (ie efficient sedan etc for 1-4 passengers, mini- van for 4-8 passengers etc)
• Privacy vs Data
• If you could make an OSHW ad-on kit for all the functions (keyless access, data logging, built in user interface panel, custom fuel warnings, sat nav plugins etc)
  • Also if this could interfere with car safety systems (if the systems even connect) and how to deal with that
  • Could also do an entirely separate system (rpi + gps sensor + keyless entry sensor + *insert name of that one port* plugin, or that Carduino thing?

Internal Links

• Carpool / Rideshare (similar concepts, the latter is essentially moreso like a taxi service in most implementations, the former could possibly be tied in to this as well)
• Toolshare a similar system but for Power Tools and similar things

External Links

• The Wikipedia Page on Car Sharing
• A Video by the YouTube Channel "Not Just Bikes" Titled "You Don't Need to Own a Car if You Don't Drive to Work - Carsharing"