NEW YORK: Companies like Uber may currently be facing the wrath of local governments and taxi firms the world over, but soon hailing a cab via a smartphone or using your handset to share a ride will be the norm.
In just 15 years' time, 650 million or roughly 10 percent of the global population will be car-sharers, offering space to other travellers in their vehicles, using a car pool or ordering a ride on-demand via an app.
According to ABI Research, the growing popularity of car-sharing services and the growing innovation among car-pooling businesses is being driven by smartphones and their ability to support on-demand businesses. It's also why the way car-pooling businesses function is also evolving so rapidly.
Version 1.0 companies that offered customers access to cars parked in specific locations are quickly giving way to companies like Uber, and soon they will be complemented by a third generation of firmS that can leverage autonomous driving technologies that can be called out remotely and used without a driver on board.
"While 1.0 allows sharing vehicles from a centrally managed fleet and 2.0 leverages the personal vehicles of individuals, 3.0 will combine both models -- a hybrid between the old economy of official fleets and the new sharing economy, firmly rooted in the crowd sourcing paradigm.
While Uber-like 2.0 services already start challenging car ownership, only the third generation of shared driverless cars will propel the (Car as a Service( paradigm into the mainstream hereby transforming the automotive industry," says VP and practice director Dominique Bonte.
However, as bullish as ABI Research's latest report into the area may sound, even the most technologically advanced car companies are doubtful that truly autonomous vehicles will be arriving within the next 10 years.
During his keynote address at the Mobile; World Congress on March 2, the head of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, Carlos Ghosn said that the many technological, legal, regulatory and security challenges involved in allowing vehicles on to the road without a driver mean that such cars are at least one decade away and even then the driver will be expected to be ready to step in and take over at a moment's notice.
In the meantime, companies like Uber are testing the boundaries in terms of mobile technology, and acceptance so that those that follow won't have to. ABI describes these companies as operating at the "edge of the law" and reshaping the regulatory framework as a result.
