DriveNow Provides BMW Electric Car Sharing Service

It may be surprising to many to learn that a small but growing program called DriveNow provides rentals of electric BMWs by the minute.  Car sharing has traditionally been handled by companies such as ZipCar, City CarShare, Relay Rides and Getaround, and a luxury vehicle is not necessarily a standard option.  However, with this initiative, drivers have the option of borrowing a BMW for the day or even for just an hour.  Although many may not have heard of this yet, BMW has actually been in the car-sharing sector for a couple of years already.  DriveNow is currently active in five German cities as well as in the San Francisco Bay area.

DriveNow is a subsidiary of BMW and its CEO, Richard Steinberg, explained the initiative further.  “Our board basically said we’ve been making cars and selling cars for decades, but with Millennials, population change, mega cities and people moving into the city, they don’t necessarily want to buy a car like they used to.  And how can we, as a company, get involved in that revenue stream that’s involved with not just buying a car, but also providing mobility solutions, and that’s where DriveNow fits in.”

Steinberg continued by explaining that many people in cities these days don’t need a car all the time, but on occasion require one to go shopping or for other specific purposes.  DriveNow provides its customers with an additional incentive to use its service by allowing for one-way car sharing.  In other words, a customer can pick up a car in one location and drop it off in another.  This can greatly increase the usability of a car sharing service, allowing for additional flexibility to suit the needs of a wider range of customers.  DriveNow customers can drop off or pick up a car from any legal parking spot, providing them with a multitude of options for how to use the service.

To use DriveNow, the customer requires an app on their mobile phone which will show them where the closest car is currently located.  They can then reserve the car so that no one else can rent it for a period of fifteen minutes from the time that they make the reservation.  The app will display essential information about the vehicle, including its current level of charge so that the customer will know whether or not it will suit their specific requirements.

The other component that is needed is a DriveNow ID card.  The customer must swipe the card over a device through the windshield of the car that they are renting, which will unlock the car and allow them to drive.

When asked how DriveNow will be able to compete with all of the other car sharing services, Steinberg replied that, “We think we get along – we fit in the ecosystem.  Sometimes ZipCar makes better sense, and sometimes DriveNow makes better sense.  We’re all trying to co-exist very well.”