European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls

Re:European crash tester says carmakers must bring back phys... by seltzered_ on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @09:08AM (#39603622)

Car2Go and Reachnow both ended in the US around 2020.

There are some other carsharing services in the US in some major cities (e.g. gig car share in sf/seattle), but I would argue overall there's less carsharing now compared to 8-9 years ago. Partly the age demographics have changed, ridesharing (uber/lyft) rose in popularity, and carsharing in the us has had its share of profitability issues.

Peak carsharing in the US to me was around 2017-2018 (car2go, reachnow, limepod, maven, ...)

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Re:European crash tester says carmakers must bring back phys... by cruffle_duffle on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @10:43AM (#39604858)

I think cheap uber/lyft ate their lunch originally but what sealed it was the introduction of dockless bikes & scooters.

Of course those smart cars didn't really help either. They were great for parking and stuff but damn did it feel like driving a gocart. My foot was either at full throttle or no throttle.

...I do miss it though.

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Re:European crash tester says carmakers must bring back phys... by seltzered_ on Tuesday March 05, 2024 @12:16PM (#39606382)

I think another kicker for carsharing at the time (~2020) was this forecasted revolution of driverless cars and robotaxis, which has sortof continued (waymo) but also collapsed (argo, cruise / tesla safety issues, etc. ) over the past couple years.

I liked carsharing from the stance that even if it didn't make me want to get rid of car ownership, it made me feel less inclined to invest as much into car ownership (i.e. keep an old used car with cheap insurance, use carsharing if my car needs maintenance or going on a trip where i dont want to worry about breaking down or if taking another mode of transit back.)

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