From Autonomous Car Sharing to Autonomous Carpooling: Managing the Simultaneously Shared Third Space

Full vehicle automation will open new paradigms for personal transportation, with shared vehicles serving multiple users, in addition to driving autonomously to users when summoned, and continuing to serve other users after each journey. A further dimension to this car sharing approach is carpooling, in which autonomous vehicles serve more than one user simultaneously, collecting multiple passengers en route who share a similar destination or who have a waypoint destination along the way.

The importance of autonomous carpooling in the new CaaS paradigm can hardly be overstated. During peak times, multiple occupant vehicles represent the only sustainable means of meeting consumer demand. Furthermore, the profitability of rideshare services will depend on high utilization rates, which will, in turn, depend heavily on autonomous carpooling.

A previous ABI Research Insight entitled, “Personalized, Reconfigurable Interiors in Shared Autonomous Vehicles” (IN-4427), analyzed the various hurdles facing OEMs seeking to develop shared autonomous vehicles and the need to provide unique and personalized interiors for the many users who consume their mobility service. This Insight will explore how in-vehicle experiences can be managed in multiple occupant rideshare vehicles to meet the needs and requirements of multiple users at once.

Many of the technologies that will personalize autonomous car sharing vehicles will also enable unique experiences in autonomous carpooling vehicles. Mechanical technologies, such as easily reconfigurable chairs and deployable surfaces, will play an obvious role in allowing users to adapt the vehicle according to the individual need or preference they may have at any given time. Similarly, reconfigurable displays will play a vital role; though, in this case, it will be the number of displays that will be most important—enough to allow users access to their own distinct multimedia or mobile office environment. Security and privacy will also be key. Individual sound zones, such as those developed by HARMAN, will not only allow different passengers to enjoy unique multimedia without interference, but will also enable private conversations by means of the same sound cancellation technology. Furthermore, dual-view technologies that alter the content displayed according to the angle from which the screen is viewed, will allow sensitive information, such as work documents, to be viewed discretely. This technology is already made available on Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz models, with the primary focus being to successfully minimize distractions to allow passengers to enjoy immersive media, while, from the driver’s perspective, the screen displays navigation information.

Dual-view displays are just one example of an HMI technology that was developed with safety in mind, but must eventually pivot to support non-safety use cases as vehicle autonomy develops to the point of excluding humans from driving tasks. The onus is on HMI vendors to clearly define how their technologies can transition to support a better user experience in the shared mobility context. Managing this transition must now become a higher priority for HMI developers due to an increasing number of OEMs beginning to make the connection between vehicle automation, in addition to business models shifting towards shared mobility services. 

Not all autonomous carpool users will be seeking an isolated, individual experience in shared vehicles. The recently demoed Rinspeed Oasis concept sets out a vision for the Car as a Social Space, in which consumers can use a companion application to select fellow passengers based on shared tastes and preferences. This can be viewed as an extension of BlaBlaCar’s approach, whereby customers can opt for either a silent or interactive driver. Another possibility would be to automate this process, with mobility providers considering interpersonal factors as part of their demand response, as well as location and destination.

Multimedia content could be similarly automated, with infotainment systems generating multimedia playlists per a shared recommendation engine designed to provide content that accommodates all of the vehicle’s passengers. Alternatively, robust automotive middleware could enable a more interactive approach. For example, Cinemo’s distributed playback technology that enables content from one display to be mirrored to other connected displays—both brought in and embedded—would allow for a highly interactive digital experience in the autonomous carpooling vehicle.