The data could show how frequently people choose car-sharing services over other forms of transit, how the use of their cars differs across neighbourhoods, and even how many trips a shared car typically completes before users complain it needs to be cleaned, said Marc-David Seidel, a professor at the University of British Columbia's Sauder school of business.
In an email, company spokeswoman Tiffany Young said Share Now aggregates anonymized data to evaluate supply and demand in order to optimize fleet distribution and to determine pricing. It also uses data to determine whether Share Now has the "right product mix" in its markets, she said. Seidel said transit is changing so car-sharing and ride-hailing services will also compete with options such as dynamic bus routing, where buses run based on demand along major routes and may take different streets depending on where people want to get on and off.
Driverless vehicles, which are likely to be electric, could be sent for charging in areas outside city centres, Seidel posited.