College Student Takes up Google's Eco-Challenge, Launches Car-sharing Service

While car sharing isn't a new idea, not many companies have taken steps to make it easier. In visions of “green” cities of the next century, futurists see a place where small, folding electric cars will be stacked on street corners like strollers at the mall, and with one swipe of a credit card, you can rent a tiny electric car and, at the end of your journey, leave it once again stacked in a public stand. While that vision may be rather far off, some small start-ups have sought to find practical ways to encourage car sharing. There's Zipcar, of course, which has a fleet of short-term rental cars that users can pick up (and pay for via an app on their phone) and drop off at their destination.

In 2009, Google's Larry Page (News - Alert) presented a challenge to college students: find an idea that would have an ecological impact on one billion people in the world. One of the program's participants, Candadian student Jessica Scorpio, took up his challenge. Scorpio turned an idea about car sharing into a company called Getaround. According to Business Insider, it's a bit like Airbnb for cars, allowing vehicle owners to rent their cars to others who need them for short periods.

In an interview with Business Insider, Scorpio points out that most cars sit idle a majority of the time.

“We feel transportation is a major problem,” she said. “There is an over-population of cars. Cars sit idle 92 percent of the time. The total number of cars will double to two billion cars. There's no reason to put another billion cars on the road. It is our goal to make Getaround a global company.”

After watching the program in action (Getaround is based in San Francisco), Scorpio observed there are more than a few social networking elements to the program. “"We noticed recently that a lot of people become repeat renters of a certain car or owner. We've had people become friends through the service. You find a few cars that you like and you like their owner and you just share with them.”

Google (News - Alert) was so intrigued it offered to launch the service, which was first debuted in Mountain Valley, California, Google's headquarters.

Scorpio says that on average, in addition to providing a valuable service, car owners usually make enough from rentals that they cover the cost of their car payments, and car renters, who may need a vehicle only intermittently, can save thousands of dollars per year on the cost of owning a car.