3 ms·

I think the concept owning your car will become mostly a thing of the past. Most of the time, I just need a car to get me from point A to point B. When the ca

I think the concept owning your car will become mostly a thing of the past. Most of the time, I just need a car to get me from point A to point B. When the car is not performing that function, it's just sitting, taking up space. Rather than making a car payment, I'd rather pay for a car-on-demand service. Whenever I need a ride, I make a request and a car appears. Coupling with an electric car makes sense, too. The car will always be charged, or alternatively, only a charged car will pick me up.

icambron 13y ago
Also you can tell it whether you need it for a long drive or a short one, so it can know when to send you an electric car or an internal combustion car. Or whether you need a big car or a small one.
saidajigumi 13y ago
Relevant to your point and this article's Northwest angle, I note that the Car2Go[1] service has become fairly prominent in the Seattle area. It's quite different to services like ZipCar, in that Car2Go has worked out a few key details: 1. Smartphone apps that show you the location of the nearest cars and allow various interaction. 2. The ability to walk up to any car not reserved/in use and take it. 3. Parking deals with the city -- just park in any public parking spot, no worries about metering. These attributes raise convenience considerably vs. some competing carshare services and remove ceilings on how many vehicles can be injected into the local system. For anyone following Horace Dediu's Asymcar[2] podcast, Car2Go fits right into their theme of exploring what will really disrupt personal transportation as we know it today. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car2Go https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car2Go [2] http://www.asymcar.com/ http://www.asymcar.com/
ballard 13y ago
When public transport is decent, vehicles become a luxury. So really, this sounds like the continuation of Los Angeles-style mandated luxury to justify the expense of a white elephant property. Instead, finding someplace less committed to a lower threshold for net lifetime greenhouse emissions, expense and digging in mud on union hours appears preferable.

icambron 13y ago

Also you can tell it whether you need it for a long drive or a short one, so it can know when to send you an electric car or an internal combustion car. Or whether you need a big car or a small one.

saidajigumi 13y ago

Relevant to your point and this article's Northwest angle, I note that the Car2Go[1] service has become fairly prominent in the Seattle area. It's quite different to services like ZipCar, in that Car2Go has worked out a few key details: 1. Smartphone apps that show you the location of the nearest cars and allow various interaction. 2. The ability to walk up to any car not reserved/in use and take it. 3. Parking deals with the city -- just park in any public parking spot, no worries about metering. These attributes raise convenience considerably vs. some competing carshare services and remove ceilings on how many vehicles can be injected into the local system. For anyone following Horace Dediu's Asymcar[2] podcast, Car2Go fits right into their theme of exploring what will really disrupt personal transportation as we know it today. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car2Go https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car2Go [2] http://www.asymcar.com/ http://www.asymcar.com/

ballard 13y ago

When public transport is decent, vehicles become a luxury. So really, this sounds like the continuation of Los Angeles-style mandated luxury to justify the expense of a white elephant property. Instead, finding someplace less committed to a lower threshold for net lifetime greenhouse emissions, expense and digging in mud on union hours appears preferable.