Carma

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Carma
Type Privately held company
Industry Carpooling, Real-time ridesharing, Software, Geographic information systems
Founded February 2007
Headquarters Cork, Ireland
Products Shared Transport
Futurefleet
Vanpool
Employees 50+
Website car.ma

Carma is a real-time transportation technology company headquartered in Cork, Ireland. It also has offices in Dublin (Ireland), China and the United States.

Company history

Formerly known as Avego, the company was founded in 2007 by Sean O'Sullivan as a research and development division of the company Mapflow. In April 2009, Avego became a separate entity associated with University College Cork. Its real-time carpooling service first served the University community in the form of an iPhone application, with seats priced by mileage.[1][2]

In January 2011, Avego and the Washington State Department of Transportation launched a pilot real-time ridesharing program, called "go520," serving the Washington State Route 520 corridor outside Seattle.[3] Financial subsidies of $30 monthly are available to both drivers and riders.[4]

In October 2011, Avego began a real-time ridesharing pilot in the Arlington Potomac Yard area.[5]

In mid-2012, Avego implemented the largest real-time ridesharing project to date in Santa Barbara, Sonoma County, Contra Costa County, and Marin County, California.[6] It was administered by Caltrans and the MTC.

Future pilots include Austin, Texas and Byron Bay in Australia.

In August 2013, the company changed its name to Carma,[7] unveiling a new corporate identity in the process.

Product areas

Overview

Carma produces real-time information and management systems that use GPS, GSM, Geographic Information Systems, Internet and iPhone technologies to facilitate a shift from single-occupancy vehicles to sustainable transport.

Carma Carpooling

Carma's flagship product is a real-time smartphone app that matches drivers and riders, enabling people to make car transport more efficient and more affordable.

The company introduced its 'Shared Transport' app at the DEMOfall 2008 conference in September 2008.[8][9][10] It was the first smartphone application to enable on-demand real-time 'ridesharing' (recently defined by the US Government (MAP-21 bill) as offering the use of seats in privately owned vehicles to other passengers on a cost-reimbursement basis only).[11] It works by automatically matching a driver's spare seat capacity with a passenger's desire to travel the same route at the same time. Drivers are provided with a price incentive in the form of electronic micropayments from riders at the end of each journey.[12][13] In December 2008, the iPhone app was released as a free download at Apple's iPhone App Store and was featured prominently in the New York Times and other major media outlets.[14][15]

In April 2010, the app was awarded the ITS America Smart Solutions Spotlight Award by the Intelligent Transportation Society of America.[16]

At the time of the 2013 company rebrand, the phrase 'Carmapooling' was also coined in order to differentiate the product from regular (or 'casual') carpooling and draw attention to its additional benefits.

Real-time bus information and management

In October 2008 the company released Futurefleet, a real-time information and management system for bus and coach operators that is provided as a hosted solution.[17][18] Futurefleet provides bus operators with a range of operations, passenger and in-vehicle services:

Passenger Services Operations Services In-Vehicle Services
Real-Time Passenger Information Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) Schedule Adherence
Electronic Display Hardware Real-Time Performance Monitoring Time-to-Arrival For Each Stop
Online Journey Planner Tools Vehicle location History Reports Notification of Upcoming Stops
Integration with Google Transit Online Schedule Management In-Vehicle Ticket Sales
Online Ticket Sales Flexible Ticket Pricing Management Journey Sales Reporting
Online Timetable Information Daily Revenue Reporting Engine Diagnostics

Real-time vanpool information and management

In 2009 the company also released a real-time information and management system for vanpool operators. Carma's Vanpool is currently being rolled out by VPSI, the world's largest vanpool service provider, across its fleet of over 5,000 vans. The system includes a web-based application for enabling commuters to self-organize vanpools, as well as an in-vehicle Mobile Data Terminal (MDT) for accurately reporting on ridership activity.[19]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Transportation For America » Smarter transportation case study #10: Dynamic Ridesharing in Cork, Ireland
  2. ↑ "Need a Ride? Check Your iPhone". The New York Times. 21 December 2008. 
  3. ↑ Seattle Launches First Real-Time Rideshare Program
  4. ↑ In Seattle, real-time ride-sharing with rewards for participants | Springwise
  5. ↑ http://www.avego.com/st/fast/index.html
  6. ↑ http://blog.avego.com/blog/avego-news/avego-chosen-as-real-time-ridesharing-system-throughout-california/
  7. ↑ "Avego Relaunches as Carma, Empowering Stranded Commuters to 'Get There Together'". Sacramento Bee. Retrieved 2 August 2013. 
  8. ↑ "Best of shows: Top 10 from DemoFall, TechCrunch5 – CNET News". 2008. Retrieved 16 February 2009. 
  9. ↑ "DEMO 08 Goes Mobile – Fortune / CNNMoney.com article". 2008. Retrieved 16 February 2009. 
  10. ↑ "San Jose Mercury News article on DEMOFall 08". 2008. Retrieved 17 February 2009. 
  11. ↑ "H.R. 4348 (112th): MAP-21". 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2013. 
  12. ↑ "High-Tech Carpooling to Ease Congestion". The Irish Times. 10 October 2008. Retrieved 16 February 2009. 
  13. ↑ "Around the Web in 2008 – ABC News". 2008. Retrieved 16 February 2009. 
  14. ↑ "The Ride Board, Reborn on the iPhone – The New York Times". Archived from the original on 12 February 2009. Retrieved 16 February 2009. 
  15. ↑ "iTransport - Could iPhone apps change the way we travel? - Slate.com". 2009. Archived from the original on 12 June 2010. Retrieved 3 June 2010. 
  16. ↑ "ITS America Press Release". 2010. Archived from the original on 5 June 2010. Retrieved 3 June 2010. 
  17. ↑ "Mapflow's Avego Futurefleet Reduces the Gap between Commuters and Transport Operators – TMCNet". 2008. Retrieved 17 February 2009. 
  18. ↑ "Avego Breakthrough System Connects Transit Operators With Riders – Reuters". 6 October 2008. Retrieved 17 February 2009. 
  19. ↑ "TransportGooru.com Article". 2010. Retrieved 3 June 2010. 

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.