The Auto Writer

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If you live in the city, especially in congested metropolitan areas like New York City, chances are you don’t own a car. Parking is a hassle, insurance rates are high, so why bother with maintaining a vehicle when mass transit is affordable, convenient, and runs 24/7/365?

Well, there are those times when you really do need a car and you need one right away. Sure, you could hail a taxi, but if you want to drive a car yourself then a taxi won’t do. Besides, who is going to rent you a car for just a few hours?

Car2go – From Daimler

Daimler AG, parent company of Mercedes and Smart, has plans to change the way people rent cars. A pilot program (dubbed car2go) rolling out this month in the German city of Ulm involving a fleet of 50 Smart Fortwos will allow people to rent these cars at a moments notice. The cars won’t be housed at one central location, instead they’ll be scattered around Ulm parked, waiting to be rented.

What’s more, the Fortwos can be easily found without direct human intervention. A few clicks of a cell phone or an internet connection will help drivers find their Fortwo, register, and head to where their rental car is parked and drive it away. At a rate of 19 cents per minute, renters can keep the Fortwo as long as they need it and they don’t have to return it to the same spot where they picked it up. As long as the car can be found somewhere within the Ulm city limits, renters can park the car in a legal parking space and leave.

BETA Testing To Begin In Ulm, Germany

“Ulm has been one of our most important research locations for many years, and is therefore the ideal choice for testing this future-oriented mobility concept”, says Dr. Thomas Weber, member of the board of management responsible for research and development at Daimler AG. Welcoming the commitment of Daimler AG, Ivo Gönner, the Mayor of the City of Ulm , says “As a center of scientific activity, Ulm offers the right environment for laying the groundwork for new ways forward in mobility”, The City of Ulm is supporting the car2go project team, in particular with issues of traffic planning.

When the program begins on October 24^th, the cars will be available only to Daimler employees initially. From that point until Spring, Daimler will examine how the program works, refine it, and expand the number of cars available before the public gets to participate. Once car2go leaves its BETA phase, city residents and visitors will be permitted to rent a car on demand.

Will car2go eventually find its way to the US market? I believe that it will as a similar program already in place by Zipcar has been well received on and near college campuses across the United States. New York City and other densely populated urban areas are ripe for such a program and, with the cooperation of city leaders, could be a commonplace alternative to taxis, buses, trains, and personal vehicles.

(Source: Daimler AG)