BMW DriveNow Ready for San Francisco Launch
Set to kick off next month, BMW will launch its DriveNow program – a new kind of car sharing service that will allow for one-way trips.
Initially launched as a pilot program, San Francisco residents 21 and older will be able to rent one of the 70 ActiveE coupes distributed across nine charging stations in the city. Aside from offering a zero-emissions service, BMW is likely to find fanfare in the fact that it won’t require drivers to return those cars to their original location.
Still cheaper than owning and operating a car, let alone a BMW, the service isn’t terribly cheap. Borrowing a car costs $12 for the first half hour and 32 cents per minute after that. For comparable services like ZipCar, that might be enough to drive customers away, but that’s also because those cars need to end up in the same lot as they began.
Cutting out the return journey could make BMW’s DriveNow service viable despite fact that this service is roughly double the cost of renting a low-end ZipCar.
Alongside the DriveNow program, the company will also launch an independent service called “ParkNow,” which offers users the ability to find and reserve parking in advance of their arrival through a smartphone.
BMW will also be able to glean testing data from renters driving its ActiveE cars which will help in developing its new i Series electric cars. Currently, there are over 45,000 members using the DriveNow service in Germany and already contributing to that information bank.
Luke is an energetic automotive journalist who spends his time covering industry news and crawling the internet for the latest breaking story. When he isn't in the office, Luke can be found obsessively browsing used car listings, drinking scotch at his favorite bar and dreaming of what to drive next, though the list grows a lot faster than his bank account. He's always on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> looking for a good car conversation. Find Luke on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> and <A title="Luke on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/112531385961538774338?rel=author">Google+</A>.
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