Take a ride to Utopia in La’zooz
Think about travelling without having to pay, think about sharing an extra seat in your car and getting back one when you are in need, think about being rewarded for your good deeds, and using those rewards to redeem services you need. All this sounds familiar to an extent, but what if the entity facilitating these services has no interest in profits? Some would say, “Sure!! But how can you run a business without making money? So, this is gonna go down sooner or later.” What if the entity is not like a traditional organization run by a hierarchy of people. But instead it is run by us? Now, there could be concerns about the quality, reliability or safety. In 2016, we already have most of the technology that enables us to tackle these concerns.
The legendary taxi hailing service Uber and a lot of other companies are already tackling this problem, although they remain in full control of the funds generated by the drivers and paid for by customers. The app’s “surge pricing” algorithm, which automatically raises fees when the weather is bad or demand is high, is a constant source of sticker shock and an occasional source of outrage.[1] We cannot blame Uber, because its a business which runs to make money for its owners. So, do we have anybody out there who is going to protect our interests and still solve our commute problems. The answer seems to lie among us.
Halfway across the globe in Israel, Shay Zluf (co-founder of La’zooz) is hoping to start a movement. La’Zooz is community based crowd-sourced platform which was started by a core group of people but aims to be run by the collective effort of the community. Through the La’zooz app, volunteers can give people lifts in exchange for tokens which they can later trade for rides. The group behind La’Zooz talks a lot about “community responsibility,” alleviating city congestion, saving the environment, and the “fair share of wealth.” [1] La’Zooz is all about contribution, as community members can collectively decide on how the reward is allocated by using sophisticated protocols. Every member’s individual “weight” is determined by the community itself, creating a rather unusual ecosystem where there are no individual leaders in the traditional sense. Decentralizing transportation is not an easy task, let alone making it a “smart” system open to anyone in the world. The introduction of block chain technology into such an ecosystem allows for the distribution of fair rewards, as decided upon by community members, rather than dealing with fixed prices. [2]
While it is still in the early stages of its development, people might argue about its ability be effective and reliable. As an acknowledgement, La’zooz has identified the problem that is critical to its success, they call it the “Critical Mass Problem.” Here goes their explanation of the problem,
“The major challenge in achieving an efficient and reliable transportation web is to have a critical mass of users in place. Unlike other decentralized initiatives, real time ridesharing is not a project which can start out on a small scale and build up slowly in the traditional manner. Without a critical mass, the network will be plagued by gaps and underserved geographic areas, leaving it valueless. Passionate adopters will turn into critical and jaded critics of the system, as they are forced to wait hours for participating drivers to happen by. With a transportation web made up of just a handful of users, the wait time between rides becomes copiously long, leading to a poor reputation and even less people joining the network. This lack of a critical mass is the “chicken and egg” issue for ridesharing applications, and has been the bane of all ridesharing initiatives thus far.” [3]
They are proposing a phased solution to tackle this critical mass problem. The app would remain inactive in a specific geographic location until it reaches this critical mass of active users, during this phase they plan to provide other location based services which would help users in some other ways. Once the critical mass is reached, the app would turn active for the deployment of services and the active users would be alerted of the same.
While it may not be easy for La’zooz to break through and take on the big-wigs of the industry like Uber & Lyft. It may disrupt the fundamental way in which the industry will be running and hopefully open up a new market altogether. Imagine a utopian society with a collaborative transportation web, on which anyone can easily, instantly and cheaply “surf” from place to place. The idea sounds exciting, and there is no place better than New York City to make it a success.
[2] http://www.newsbtc.com/2016/03/22/using-blockchain-decentralized-ride-sharing-lazooz/
