Private Car Sharing with the Mercedes-Benz A-class
Daimler recently announced that its new A-class will be capable of private car sharing. That is, the car owner can share his or her car easily with friends and family. As mentioned in the article linked above, the car can be rented via a mobile app. Using the app the person renting the car can open the door and activate the vehicle key that is kept inside the car. After the rental the user lets the key inside the car, closes the doors and uses the app to stop the rental, thereby locking the doors and disabling the key.
The authorised user opens the vehicle using the app and by means of the Mercedes me communication module installed in the vehicle. The A‑Class is started with the vehicle key, which is left in the car and temporary use of which is likewise enabled over the air by Mercedes me. When returning the vehicle, the driver puts the key back in the car and closes the car with the app, thereby bringing the sharing period to an end. The vehicle key in the car can be used only during the sharing period.
There are several companies that sell hardware to equip vehicles with sharing functionality after their production. One example is the company INVERS. You can read about their hardware on their official website:
We have developed highly integrated hardware specifically for the Shared Mobility OS to allow vehicles and scooters to be equipped after-market with sharing functions and processes.
With the increasing densitiy of cars in cities the need for car sharing becomes clearer than ever. With the acceptance of car sharing by a wide audience it can be expected that more and more car manufactures will equip their cars with sharing functionality innately.
