Seeing as people are already walking around with GPS devices in their purses and pockets, it makes sense that shared mobility continues to gain traction.
DETROIT, MI - Seeing as people are already walking around with GPS devices in their purses and pockets, it makes sense that shared mobility continues to gain traction.
Social media giant Facebook is the latest company that looks poised to move more into this increasingly crowded space. The company had a patent published Thursday that outlines a ride-sharing service for events, driven wholly by its users.
Facebook users are familiar with events pages, where one can let everyone know whether or not they'll be at a particular concert or party or whatever.
The new feature Facebook appears ready to launch asks its users attending an event to select whether or not they are driving.
If the Facebooker is driving, they can then select their number of passengers, set of potential passengers and departure location, along with a radius of where they would be willing to pick up other passengers.
The social media network will identify potential matches of people needing rides to the same event. If the user selects that he or she needs a ride to the event, Facebook will list friends with seats available.
And you know how Uber and Lyft (and many public bus systems) have a map tracking when your ride is coming? Facebook's would do that, too.
Non-drivers can also be paired, to share taxis or ride bus or train lines together, the patent application says.
Facebook is calling it "event-based ride-sharing." The company first field the patent in July 2014, according to CNN Money, which reported that the patent has not yet been approved.
In general, it appears to be another acknowledgment that, especially in more urban areas, fewer people will need to own cars in the future.
It's a notion that even carmakers themselves have seemed to have embraced as of late.
GM's Maven car-sharing mobile application Last month, General Motors announced the launch of Maven, a new car-sharing service with vehicles for rent by the hour or day in Ann Arbor, with more cities to follow.
Earlier that same, month, GM revealed it is pouring $500 million into Lyft with the intention of developing a ride-sharing service based on a network of autonomous vehicles.
Also in January, Ford Motor Co. Chairman Bill Ford, Jr. said the company's press conference at the 2016 North American International Auto Show marked the Dearborn automaker's new future as a mobility company.
Ford said traffic in major cities is "a mess," and easing such congestion will be better for the economy, the environment and for people in general.
"At its fundamental core, that's what mobility is," Ford said.
Aside from tripling its fleet of autonomous vehicles, which Ford says is now the largest of any automaker, the company is launching a new lease-sharing program through Ford Credit, and has created a new data platform to analyze mobility patterns and find greater efficiency in urban traffic, for example.
David Muller is the automotive and business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com, follow him on Twitter or find him on Facebook.