Opinion – Eduardo Sodré: Israeli company develops car-sharing system in Brazil

Always touted as a mobility alternative, car sharing is undergoing adjustments to expand in Brazil.

Companies that bet on the solution already have a better understanding of the market dynamics and the security and maintenance issues involved.

The Israeli monitoring company Ituran believes it has found a way to popularize this alternative. The focus is on managing fleets of rental companies and companies.

The service will be offered in Brazil by the joint venture IturanMob, formed in partnership with the startup MobLab. Through an app, cars can be unlocked and used by drivers registered on the platform.

These drivers will have a scoring system similar to the one used by Uber to qualify customers and service providers. It is a way to reduce the risks involved in the business, which are not few.

The short-term rental system in which cars are left at different points in the cities and used freely by different drivers is a concept loaded with utopias. You have to trust the honesty and expertise of users: a mechanical problem not reported by one can result in an accident for the other.

Global examples of success still attract less attention than noisy failures, such as the French Autolib. Hygiene and repair costs, boosted by cases of vandalism, turned the 4,000 electric carts into scrap. The service lasted from 2011 to 2018.

Ituran, however, believes that its monitoring system and the frequent maintenance of vehicles will circumvent any problems. The software is able to detect the amount of fuel in the tank, among other functions.

The Israeli company has 25 years of experience in Brazil and knows its peculiarities. Its tracking structure has more than 700 thousand customers in Brazil.

The service consists of permanently monitoring the cars, which makes it possible to recover in case of robbery or theft. It is with this technology that it intends to make sharing something profitable.

Iveco announced this Thursday (10) an investment of R$ 1 billion in Latin America. The cycle runs until 2025 and will be dedicated mainly to the development of new products equipped with less polluting engines.

The company, which has factories in Sete Lagoas (MG) and in Córdoba, Argentina, is preparing for the next stage of the Proconve (Vehicle Emissions Control Program) for heavy vehicles, which will take effect next year.