Among other things, connected car technology is enabling models of car use beyond private ownership for new generations. Car-sharing is one such model, an idea which clearly has some OEMs spooked, and prompted them to invest in their own services. In January 2016, GM launched its car-sharing service Maven in Ann Arbour, Michigan. Ford’s GoDrive sharing scheme arrived in London in May 2015, whilst BMW is operating its DriveNow scheme in nine cities.
One dedicated car-sharing company is Zipcar. Worldwide, the company has 900,000 members and nearly 10,000 vehicles. Speaking ahead of her appearance at Connected Car Detroit by Automotive Megatrends,Kate Roberts, Director of Global Partnerships at Zipcar, spoke to Automotive World on how today’s connected car experience is merely a transitionary phase preceding a transformation of the automotive landscape.
Will the connected car revolutionise the way we drive, or is it an evolution?
It’s revolutionary for sure. Zipcar was really the first application of a connected car – we enabled people to use a web browser to reserve a car, wireless technology to beam code to on-board telematics, and RFID (radio-frequency identification) technology to communicate between the telematics and a member’s card. This clever use of technology was the first step in what today is called ‘shared mobility,’ or ‘on-demand transportation.’
We’ve continued to build on this revolutionary concept – that people would buy a trip rather than buy a car – and today offer our members multiple ways to use Zipcar, from point-to-point, to round trip, and in the future, floating.
What is the next revolutionary step?
The full realisation of connected cars via autonomous vehicles is the next quantum leap in transportation. Today you reserve a Zipcar and make your own way to it. Tomorrow, you’ll reserve a Zipcar and it will come to you. And when it drops you off, it will pick up the next member, and so on. In this world, people buy trips, not cars.
Then at night, or when demand drops, it will drive itself to a parking lot. People in cities will no longer need to own a car. In between now and then, we’ll continue to see a lot of innovation in how people navigate in, out and around cities thanks to increasing availability of data and increasing integration into vehicles and smartphones. This is an instrumental bridge to the time when the cars just drive themselves.
What is the importance of connectivity between the car and mobile devices? Will clever OEMs look to integrate the two, or look to offer their own in-car solutions?
I’d say that connectivity between car and mobile device is as important as connectivity between car and car, car and network, network and modes, and so on. Think of the complexity of an urban environment and how it can be addressed by fully integrated systems. It goes beyond a phone and a car. What about the connectivity to traffic signals, emergency response vehicles and parking garages?
The connected car’s impact is directly proportional to how well it’s connected, and how useful and timely the data it receives. That’s why it’s so important that all of us in the ecosystem find ways to collaborate.
