Skip to main content

Berg Insight: free floating car sharing served 5.6m members 2017

Free floating car sharing services utilised 40,000 vehicles and served 5.6 million members in 2017, according to a report released by Swedish internet of things firm Berg Insight. The study also forecasted that membership of the service will reach 14.3 million using around 102,000 vehicles by the end of 2022. This service allows members to pick up and drop-off cars anywhere within a designated area where parking is allowed. Users can access available cars without prior booking or be required to schedule
April 20, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Free floating car sharing services utilised 40,000 vehicles and served 5.6 million members in 2017, according to a report released by Swedish internet of things firm 3849 Berg Insight. The study also forecasted that membership of the service will reach 14.3 million using around 102,000 vehicles by the end of 2022.


This service allows members to pick up and drop-off cars anywhere within a designated area where parking is allowed. Users can access available cars without prior booking or be required to schedule a return time.

The operational model presents challenges for carsharing operators such as car fleet rebalancing across operating areas to ensure availability, higher capital investments in car fleets as well as parking management.

Berg Insight also revealed that most carsharing organisations use station-based networks with roundtrip rental which requires users to return a vehicle to the same station where it was accessed.

Martin Svegander internet of things analyst at Berg Insight, said: “Free floating carsharing is now available in about 20 countries and roughly 55 cities worldwide. Europe and North America so far represent the vast majority of free floating carsharing members worldwide. In Europe, free floating services accounted for more than 65 percent of the carsharing membership at year-end 2017."

“Examples of additional markets that have introduced free floating carsharing services include Russia, China, New Zealand and Brazil. Besides free floating carsharing schemes backed by the major carmakers BMW DriveNow and Daimler Car2go, some specialist CarSharing Organisations (CSOs) in Europe and North America have also started to offer this operational model. Examples of CSOs that offer free floating services include Enjoy in Italy, GreenMobility in Denmark and Evo Car Share in Canada. Recently, BMW and Daimler announced the merger of their mobility service businesses that is anticipated to create a leading venture that includes free floating carsharing services and other shared mobility services”, Svegander added.

The report brochure can be downloaded %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external here false http://www.berginsight.com/ReportPDF/ProductSheet/bi-vending3-ps.pdf false false%>.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Eutrain conference on international cooperation in transport research
    August 27, 2013
    The Eutrain (European Transport Research Area International) conference on international co-operation in transport research is aimed at gathering European and global scientific, policy making and business communities to discuss themes and instruments for the promotion of future international cooperation in the field of transport research. The conference takes place in Brussels on 9 and 10 October and is organised within the framework of the Eutrain project, an FP7 project funded by the European Commissio
  • ITS America free webinar series: Connected vehicles and the environment
    December 7, 2012
    The third webinar of the AERIS autumn/winter 2012-2013 webinar series will take place on Wednesday, 12 December 2012 at 1:00 pm EST. The webinar will provide an overview of the draft concept of operations for the dynamic low emissions zones transformative concept. As part of the AERIS program's efforts to develop ways in which real-time transportation system data could improve the operation of the surface transportation network, six transformative concepts, or bundles of applications, were identified. Each
  • Boeing autonomous air vehicle completes first flight in Virginia
    January 30, 2019
    Boeing has completed a test flight of its autonomous passenger air vehicle (PAV) prototype in the US. The electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft was developed through a collaboration between Boeing subsidiary companies Boeing NeXt and Aurora Flight Services. Boeing NeXt works with regulatory agencies and industry partners to help introduce new mobility modes and ensure autonomous and piloted air vehicles safely coexist. Steve Nordlund, vice president and general manager of Boeing NeXt, sa
  • FLEX electric driverless shuttle operating in Australia
    June 25, 2018
    A driverless public electric shuttle is operating around South Australia’s Tonsley Innovation District as part of a trial set to include public roads. The five-year project, valued at AU$4m (£2.2m), is intended to build public acceptance of the technology. Initially, the Navya Arma Flinders Express (FLEX) shuttle will offer first mile-last mile services between the Clovelly Park train station and Tonsley main assembly building, then connections to bus stops on the main South Road and businesses within th