Self-driven cars or car sharing is a growing concept that nullifies the need for car ownership by people. Car sharing is immensely popular amongst the younger generations in the developed countries. Companies like Zip car have about 900,000 customers with 10,000 cars in total. However, self-drive car technology is very new in the Indian market and hasn’t spread its wings yet.
The year 2013has transformed the car industry trend to self-drive rental cars in our country.
Zoomcar, Revv, Just Ride, MiCar, Carzonrent, Selfdrive.in, Voler, RentoMojo, and many other players or companies are showing their support and interest in the self-drive car rental market. More than 10 organized players are working in this segment from four metro cities, with new players continuously joining them.
Zoom car holds the position of being the India’s first self-drive car rental company. This idea was driven by the concept of sharing economy.
In India, we have seen a large change in the mobility paradigm, from people driven to car-pooling to a sudden tilt towards the recent entrant which is self-drive car rental industry which is the next potential unicorn.
Evolution of the market
The players or companies in the space are also launching various packages and services to improve its user base.
Revv is another competitor in the segment that describes its model to be a combination of Zip car and Dominos. They home deliver the car to its user. The self-drive car rental companies till now had parking areas from where a consumer picks up the car but Revv wanted to make this a bit easier as well.
Recently, Zoom car has launched Super Miler which is the first service that allows its customers to drive for unlimited kilometers over distance. The campaign was designed for corporate, office goers, and travelers who were planning a long distance journey.
They also have designed special packages that include Zoom Commute. This was basically done to attract corporate and office goers who were looking for an economic self-drive option for themselves. This package has a range of cars for weekly purpose and is accompanied by special services to suit the consumer needs for an affordable alternative to own a car.
Technology Usage
Several companies have started collaborating technologies like Driver Behavior Monitoring (DBM,) and On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) in their cars. Zoomcar, Revv, Voler, Carzonrent and many others are using these technologies in their cars.
In 2013, Zoom Car started using a very simple GPS tracking system, but soon they realized that it needs the potential to evolve technologically. Zoomcar is using new devices in its cars nowadays.
Performance of Self Driven Car Industry
The market of the self-drive car rentals in India has sequentially evolved over the last two years during FY’2013-FY’2015. The self-drive car rental company is in the beginning stage in India, whereas in China and Brazil the market has been developed a lot.
The goal of the company operating in this phase is to popularize the idea of self-drive car rentals in India and to make the market really improve through a product that mimics the privacy and convenience of one’s own company car. The customer profile of the self-drive car industry in India is large and is used by various people from different demographics.
Future of the industry
The outlook period of FY’ 2016-FY’2020 shows a promising future for the self-driven car rental industry in our country. It is predicted that the market will witness a growth in the self-drive car rental industry size mounting to 80,000 cars by FY’2020 itself.
Self-drive cars rentals give its customers the liberty of self-drive, empowers them to choose a car of their choice as per their convenience with no problem of monthly EMI’S and maintenance or parking expenses.
With rising driver costs and the shortage of drivers in India, the chauffeur drive model is expected to reduce in future and in turn will offer huge potential for self-driven car rental marketing in India.
With customer preferences getting niche, targeted solutions has become critical. Self-drive car rental industry is one such mushrooming sector which is set to cater to the needs of the niche and thereby up for exponential growth.
The concept of self-drive car is super as it gives a high level of comfort in life economically. People can invest the money in some other forms instead of buying a car. As a result could we also expect a cut off in vehicle prices?
Thanks for the information. TC and keep smiling :-)
Self driven cars do have a bright future, but only in cities. One of the main factor that prevents me opting for self-driving cars is, I don’t know what happens when you get into trouble on the street for no-mistake of yours. Also, in some cities and tourist place lobby of local cabbies are quite against these cars and they won’t hesitate to harm these vehicles.
I don’t know how these companies are going to tackle this issue.