Skip to main content

Evolving commuters' demands to pave the way for car-sharing business models

Physical integration of public transit systems with car-sharing will enhance convenience and drive growth opportunities, finds Frost & Sullivan's Mobility Team. Its latest study, Future of Car-sharing Market to 2025, says that with vehicle automation rapidly gaining currency, cars-haring operators (CSOs) are developing novel business models to address the evolving mobility demands of commuters. They will initially offer self-parking services, allowing members to drop off vehicles at designated parking lo
October 5, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Physical integration of public transit systems with car-sharing will enhance convenience and drive growth opportunities, finds 2097 Frost & Sullivan's Mobility Team.

Its latest study, Future of Car-sharing Market to 2025, says that with vehicle automation rapidly gaining currency, cars-haring operators (CSOs) are developing novel business models to address the evolving mobility demands of commuters. They will initially offer self-parking services, allowing members to drop off vehicles at designated parking lots, and gradually roll out short-distance parking service, wherein self-driven vehicles will be driven into parking lots. Finally, once complete automation is possible, collaboration with key players and convergence with public transport will change the mobility industry.

As automated driving will dilute the need for personal ownership, traditional car owners will gravitate toward car-sharing services. Furthermore, the worsening levels of traffic congestion and pollution due to the development of mega-cities and urbanisation foster a favourable environment for efficient travel services.

"The convenience, flexibility and security of car-sharing services make a strong case for the adoption of integrated mobility services," said Mobility senior research analyst Krishna Achuthan. "This, in turn, will lead to a number of mergers and acquisitions among industry majors that recognise the market benefits of offering such systems and digital platforms."

In addition to market consolidation, technology advances and government initiatives will give a huge boost to car-sharing services, with the number subscribers expected to cross 36 million by 2025 from 7.9 million in 2015. However, to achieve optimum market potential, CSOs need to counter the high insurance cost and inadequate demand in areas with low population density.

1731 BMW's 6452 DriveNow and ReachNow, 2069 Daimler's 4190 Car2Go, 3874 Zipcar, Bollore Group and GM currently are the prominent players in the space. This pool of competitors is set to expand with advances in public transit systems.

"Physical integration of public transit systems with car-sharing will allow users to book both cars and train tickets through one single mobile app and thereby, enhance convenience and drive member growth," noted Achuthan. "In future, car-sharing models are likely to expand to include peer-to-peer and corporate services on the same platform, as well as consolidate with adjacent mobility services like leasing, car rental and bike sharing."

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • IN FOCUS: What Lidar does next
    March 16, 2023
    Automotive, tolling, robotics – outside of traffic, road safety and autonomous vehicles, what applications will move the dial in terms of Lidar during 2023? Quite a few, finds Adam Hill
  • New Tesla models to have ‘full self-driving capability’
    October 21, 2016
    In its online blog, Tesla says that self-driving vehicles will play a crucial role in improving transportation safety and accelerating the world’s transition to a sustainable future. Full autonomy will enable a Tesla to be substantially safer than a human driver, lower the financial cost of transportation for those who own a car and provide low-cost on-demand mobility for those who do not. The company has announced that from now, all Tesla vehicles produced in its factory, including Model 3, will have th
  • Monkey Parking app ‘illegal and predatory’
    June 25, 2014
    San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera has issued an immediate cease-and-desist demand to Monkey Parking, a mobile peer-to-peer bidding app that enables motorists to auction off the public parking spaces their vehicles occupy to nearby drivers. A letter issued by Herrera's office to Paolo Dobrowolny, CEO of the Rome, Italy-based tech start-up, cites a key provision of San Francisco's Police Code that specifically prohibits individuals and companies from buying, selling or leasing public on-street pa
  • Traffic management market ‘worth US$16.89 billion by 2019’
    July 14, 2014
    A recent study by MarketdsandMarkets, Traffic Management Market by Solutions, Displays & Systems (Full Pedestrian, Parking Space and Toll Management, Above Ground Pedestrian and Vehicle Detection) - Global Advancements, Projects, Worldwide Forecast & Analysis (2014 - 2019) analysed and studied the major market drivers, restraints, and opportunities in North America, Western Europe, CIS and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America. The study reports that the traffic manageme