What do artificial intelligence and machine learning have to offer car sharing?
Leading consulting agencies (GMI, Frost & Sullivan, Report Buyer or McKinsey) predict that the car sharing market will grow fourfold by 2025. As a result, the total size of the worldwide car sharing fleet will grow to about 427,000 cars. The total number of users will grow five times by that date, with about 36 million people subscribed to one or more car sharing services.
These levels will be achievable thanks to active state support in different countries, the optimization of service prices and, of course, technological development. They are adding new features for customers, and they are constantly improving thanks to technology. Machine learning and artificial intelligence are extremely popular technologies, which persistently dominate headlines in the media. What can they do for car sharing?
Customer services
Car sharing companies always say they put the customer first. Artificial intelligence technology can personalize service offerings to the maximum degree possible. Companies are already able to customize the rates for a particular user and offer personal recommendations based on the time of use of the service.
Real-time data analysis generally allows companies to provide driving advice. In addition, the driver can expect to step into a car that has been fully configured for him before he sets off on his trip. It will become possible to plot “complex” routes that make use of a combination of car sharing, public transport, and taxis. As a result, it will be possible to search for a car while taking into account the travel time to the customer, who will be able to choose from several route options and pickup locations. Let’s say that a client from one point needs to get to other. First he travels by train, then he gets out at railway station, where a car sharing vehicle has been reserved for him and configured to his preferences. The service will take into account the customer’s wishes regarding time, car make, destination (such as home, work or fitness center), and music preferences.
Advantages for business
The focus on personalization provides benefits not only to the customer. Car sharing companies themselves can use technology to achieve the most important goal right now for the industry: customer retention.
Machine learning makes it possible to identify what users of a service are like. Car sharing companies can use this data to prepare targeted rates or bonus programs for loyal users, or, on the contrary, predict some negative event that a particular driver might encounter with a car. It can use this information to guide the user away from the problem in advance.
Consider another scenario: Machine learning can predict the demand for cars and provide solutions to optimize how vehicles are distributed in a given area. The way cars should be distributed across areas can also depend on the day of the week or the time of day. In addition, a special offer to rent the cars over the weekend should be displayed inside the car cabin.
If the vehicle is connected, the artificial intelligence algorithms can be used to schedule timely maintenance for the car, which is important for ensuring the reliable operation of the service. All of these solutions can certainly optimize the costs of routine maintenance for cars and increase their utilization rate.
It is already clear that the driving behavior of the users of car sharing vehicles should be corrected proactively based on feedback that is given directly during the rental. Hiring operators to do this manually is extremely difficult and resource intensive. Accidents as such are not potential sources of losses for car sharing services (since cars can be insured). Rather, the threat comes from the inability to use a car while it is being repaired. Therefore, we should expect new restrictions to be imposed on aggressive drivers. Point systems and early warning systems for aggressive driving will be implemented. It also makes sense to install cameras in vehicles that are used for car sharing to confirm the identity of the driver. Additional conditions may also need to be satisfied for authentication purposes. And this is only the beginning because once the entire car sharing vehicle quota has been filled in a given city, the market players will only be able to compete with each other on the basis of the level of service that they offer and by offering an ever-growing portfolio of new features.
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