Starting in September, Zipcar users will be able to reserve wheels via an iPhone app.
Zipcar founder Scott Griffin takes the app for a test drive for CNN:
Griffith enters the parking lot outside his office in Cambridge, Mass., pulls out his iPhone, and taps a button on the screen. Suddenly a yellow Mini Cooper starts honking like a crazed goose.
Griffith approaches the vehicle and taps the screen again. The doors magically unlock, and under the steering wheel the key dangles from a cord. He starts up the car — nicknamed “Meneus” — and drives away at a rate of $11.25 an hour.
The Zipcar app gets works as a wireless key, getting drivers into cars, letting them lock them — and helps find the closest available garage.
The car sharing program I get around with in Milan uses an RFID card to lock and unlock doors (kind of nice if you don’t have an iPhone). Reservations over the Internet work decently, as long as you realize you need a car while sitting at your computer.
Alternatively, you can call them to see what’s available but half the time the operators don’t have key info — like the garage is closed for lunch.
The Zipcar app sounds well thought through, it’ll be interesting to see what it’s like on the ground.
Via CNN Money
