Israeli startup Fleetonomy is to be acquired by fellow Israeli company Via Transportation, Calcalist has reported. Fleetonomy Ltd, a Tel Aviv-based car fleet management startup, should fit in nicely with Via’s ride sharing services.
No word yet on a price, though.
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We have heard all about ride sharing services like Uber. They let people earn extra money by working as, in effect, cab drivers, The advantage over cabs is that the apps allow travelers to review their drivers and the ratings can be used by people to decide which driver to choose. But such services have a great many drawbacks.
Professional taxi drivers decry the fact that they need to pay for licenses to do the same job and in cities like New York such licenses are few and hard to come by. And the ride sharing services have no government regulation. This is why many cities, as well as whole countries, have banned such services.
And the ride share drivers themselves often feel exploited. The money they earn must cover their operating expenses. While they may own the cars and pay for insurance and maintenance anyway, there is all the extra gas used and wear and tear on their vehicles.
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And today more people are getting electric bicycles and other small vehicles to get around town so they will not need to hire a ride for short distances.
But Via is a bit different than Uber. It brings people traveling in the same direction together. If you need a ride then you can find someone with a car going where you need to be. So the drivers are not working as such, they just happen to have extra space in their cars. So think of this as carpooling. Another threat to Uber.
Via boasts that it is building “the transportation systems of tomorrow, right now.” The company also provides first/last mile, school bus, transit desert, paratransit, and non-emergency medical solutions.
Its ViaViewer helps people find the best route to get to their destination.
Fleetonomy offers services like on demand car rentals for owners of car fleets. It develops a cloud-based fleet management service for carmakers, car rental companies, and ride-sharing services.
