Ridesharing, as a way to get around, is here to stay. “In recent years we have seen an explosion of ridesharing and e-hailing platforms that have changed the landscape of transportation in urban areas,” says Jeff Salazar, a partner at LUNAR, a design firm acquired by McKinsey in 2015 and now part of McKinsey Design.
Ridesharing growth in Spain
And despite the problems that are emerging from collaborative economy initiatives like Airbnb or Uber, ridesharing is growing. According to Statista data, specifically in Spain this business entered 311.84 million euros last year. This year it is expected to generate revenues of 356.24 million euros, and according to the data this market will continue to grow by 2021.
In addition, according to Statista, about 7.9% of the country’s over-16 adults will contract these services throughout this year.
Advances to make ridesharing grow
But despite its remarkable growth, ridesharing is still far from ubiquitous, as it only accounts for 1% of all vehicle miles traveled in the United States.
For that to change, according to McKinsey & Company, a number of advances are needed, especially smarter design, improved customer experience and advanced analytics applications, all of which can create a more favorable economy.
According to McKinsey&Co. these changes will encourage people to use ridesharing in many circumstances and will help the industry attract and maintain more drivers, which would significantly improve the business economy. The more people routinely use ridesharing, the more obvious the benefits will become, including reducing stress, being able to take the time to do things during the trip, and eliminating parking problems.
However, there is one reason that ridesharing is only used in a third of the miles traveled by vehicles in the United States and is that for most American drivers daily use of ridesharing is more expensive than going with their own car. In the United States, drivers typically do about 3,500 miles a year. The moment more miles are made, as happens to 90% or 95% of the owners, buying your own car becomes the cheapest option. Of course, to this is that consumers who own a car can also benefit from sharing trips, and many already do.
This, according to McKinsey & Co. it can change if the above advances are implemented, it is important to create a good riding experience to attract a wide range of people, and for this it is important to stay relevant over time and take advantage of emerging technologies.
Ridesharing doesn’t have to slow down car buying
With Uber’s rise and alternative transportation options for consumers, OEMs are concerned about the impact that increasing use of these options will have on future vehicle purchases.
But a new report from Strategy Analytics’ Automotive Connected Mobility (ACM) service has found that car pooling or road travel should not adversely affect future vehicle purchase intent.
Some of the results of the study are:
- Ridesharing increases the likelihood that current vehicle owners in the United States, Europe and China will be buying another vehicle within the next five years.
- Frequent ridesharing users who also own their own vehicle had higher transportation needs than those who don’t. Ridesharing fills a niche that is convenient but does not impersonate your personal vehicle.
- Users who do not have children and are assiduous of ridesharing are less likely to buy a car than users with family.
“The question of how ridesharing and car-sharing emerging transportation options will affect vehicle sales is very complex to answer,” said Chris Schreiner, author of the Strategy Analytics report.
“There are questions of cost, convenience, usability, privacy, type of travel and travel duration that influence transportation options,” says Schreiner, who added that “it seems unlikely that there will be a delay in the upcoming vehicle purchases by frequent ridesharing users.”
“That said, you may still be able to choose a less expensive or lower-class car,” Chris Schreiner said. “Alternatively, they can choose to reduce their fleet from three vehicles to two.”
According to Strategy Analytics ridesharing is being taken more as a complement to the car that is already owned, than as a substitute.
$47 billion invested in ridesharing startups
Ridesharing continues to grow, there are more and more startups offering these services, and more and more companies are investing in these startups. According to data from Crunchbase and PitchBook, $47 billion has been invested in ridesharing startups to date.
Investments and partnerships with these startups are on the rise, for example, the Toyota auto firm has recently delivered 20 units of the Mirai (with fuel cell propulsion system) to the clever shuttle ‘ridesharing’ company for its Use.
According to the company, target customers are mainly train passengers seeking transportation to and from train stations. The service is booked through an application, allowing the grouping of passengers with similar routes. This means CleverShuttle can offer affordable prices, up to 40 percent less than normal taxi prices.
“We are proud that CleverShuttle has chosen us to be your trusted partner, relying solely on Toyota’s fuel cell technology in Hamburg from now on,” said German president Tom Fux.
Ford and Lyft
Another example of partnership is that forging Ford and Lyft to help forge a faster path to self-driving cars and encourage ridesharing.
The two have entered a partnership designed to allow Ford vehicles to communicate with the ridesharing company’s app, said Sherif Marakby made the official announcement in a Medium article, “Today we announce a significant step forward in bringing the self-driving cars to the masses thanks to a new partnership with Lyft that will help both companies move towards a future where transportation will be more affordable, reliable and accessible,” he said.
Companies will work together to find out which cities are best for self-driving deployment and what kind of infrastructure is needed to make it work.
Ford has set a 2021 deadline for self-driving cars to be available for Lyft ridesharing services. Lyft, for its part, also announced in July that it plans to open its own car auto-driving program in Palo Alto for next year.
