What additional bonuses does modern technology bring to motorists
Innovative technologies in one way or another form additional value for various categories of users. One of the spheres of innovation — technological platforms which, like membership in club, give additional bonuses and privileges to car owners.
Quite actively the idea of the economy of joint consumption was introduced the automotive market, the core concept of which is “ use, don’t own.” The task of the shared consumption economy is to optimize costs and not waste resources. In the case of drivers the greatest development in this sense received two directions.
First of all, ridesharing. Ridesharing platforms directly connect motorists and travelers who need to get from point A to point B. the Cost of fuel, parking, repair and other costs in the process are divided between both parties. As a result, travelers get a comfortable way to travel at a decent price. And drivers saves on expenses, which allows him to use the car even more efficiently. BlaBlaCar, which operates in 22 countries and has 50 million users, has become The largest roadsharing platform. Basically, the service is used for long-distance travel. Therefore, in 2017, the company launched a separate service BlaBlaLines, created for the organization of joint trips over short distances and daily urban or suburban routes.
The first sites of this type appeared in the 1990s, but due to the lack effective communications between parties, they did not actively develop. Today, the widespread development of GPS, smartphones, the Internet and social networks creates a good springboard for the expansion of such networks. By the way, some market participants tend to believe that the introduction of unmanned vehicles on the mass market will also affect the promotion of roadsharing networks.
The second direction of the economy of joint consumption in the automotive sector is carsharing. This is short-term rental of a car from a company that specializes in this segment. Today, thanks to technology, the possibilities of carsharing have increased. There were platforms aggregators that allow private car owners to lease their vehicle when they do not need it themselves. Peer-to-peer carsharing, in fact, works on the same system as the Airbnb platform in the field of rental housing.
Another opportunity for car owners is to get a quick loan on decent terms. The segment of loans secured car titles is one of the most rapidly developing and popular field of lending. The market volume is about $ 30 billion, or 1/3 of the total world microcredit market (for 2016). This is always more profitable than classic microcredits, since the loan is provided with highly liquid collateral. It’s always faster than getting a Bank loan because auto pawnshops are much less bureaucratic than banking institutions. But even more favorable loan terms are provided by specialized online platforms that bring together investors and borrowers. One of these platforms is SHIFT.cash. Its difference from other similar platforms (of which there are only a few) is that it will soon become international, which means that it can carry out transactions not only within any particular country. The borrower and investor can be located in different parts of the world. Such a system allows to form a global financial market, which means to improve the conditions for loans on the one hand and investment rates on the other. Possible implementation of secure cross-border transaction came to be a reality thanks to blockchain technology and smart contracts, which guarantee reliable preservation of the data regardless of state borders.
