Thanks for sharing. Speculating what would be better or best when it comes to Personal Mobility (owned, shared or ride-hail) should at least involve answering the question: what would make for a more efficient transportation mode, given the fact that 95 percent of our mobility needs is about displacing an average of 1.2 person. As long as we cannot “beam me up Scotty” from A to B, the vehicle matters — mass+size | energy | space | time: all four constitute costs as well as potential earnings. Why not address them in one fell swoop?

There are a couple of ways to make going from A to B into a more profitable business model (for car owners make it a less costly proposition*):

1. Breakthrough in driverless technology (human driver becomes obsolete; outcompete other ride-hail providers)
2. Raise occupancy rate, reduce driving around empty
3. More passengers per trip; at the moment 1.2 person
4. Use smaller vehicle that will fit most taxi trips

A smaller vehicle (SPV?) will yield:

1. lower costs to buy and operate (battery size, kWh demand)
2. payload / costs ratio goes up (less vehicle expenses per paying passenger)
3. the cheaper, the more equitable
4. better scanning/imaging of the vicinity (when operated autonomously)
5. more margin to maneuver through traffic and evade other road users
6. faster response and transit times
7. more intermodal potential in collaboration with Public Transport (think of Deutsche Bahn deploying Smart cars for door-to-door mobility)

How could (actually more of) a BPV or Broad Purpose Vehicle look like and work? Here’s a suggestion: new-iSetta.com. It’s safe to say that operating the big MPVs and SUVs that ride-hail companies are offering, doesn’t do much good in terms of operating costs, sneak-through city traffic capability and driverless deployment. *Obviously, much of what works for ride-hailers will also work for car owners. Need a bigger car? Borrow or rent one. Or one will be available in your car-sharing program. Cheers, Ralph