Dynamic ridesharing

dynamic ridesharing (also known as instant ridesharing, ad-hoc ridesharing, real-time ridesharing or dynamic carpooling), denotes a special implementation of a carpooling service which enables the formation of carpools on very short notice. Typical for this type of carpooling is
* arrangement of one-time trips instead of recurrent appointments for commuters,
* the usage of mobile phones for placing carpooling requests and offers through a data service,
* automatic and instant matching of rides through a network service,
* The network service compensates the driver by an integrated billing system.

While there exist plenty of carpooling agencies for commuters, there is no large scale operation of an instant ridesharing service today. However, pilot projects have proven the technical feasibility of such service.

Advanced Concepts, only described in publications so far, explore options for
* position tracking of users using GPS enabled devices to avoid the necessity to manually enter the current position when requesting/offering a ride. This also allows the use of fleet management systems for vehicle tracking and guiding, e.g. in case passenger pickup requires a short detour. Ideally, the navigation system integrates a ridesharing functionality.
* multihop matches: passengers change cars to get to their final destination

External links

* [http://research.nokia.com/tr/NRC-TR-2007-003.pdf study on dynamic ridesharing concepts, prior art, pilots and service introduction options]
* [http://www.globaltelematics.com/pitf/FTA-dynamicRideSharingReview.pdf US dept. of transport funded study: ADVANCED PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS:THE STATE OF THE ART, UPDATE 2006]

* [http://www.are.admin.ch/dienstleistungen/00908/00912/index.html?lang=de&download=NHzLpZeg7t,lnp6I0NTU042l2Z6ln1acy4Zn4Z2qZpnO2Yuq2Z6gpJCDfH18gGym162epYbg2c_JjKbNoKSn6A-- Study of dynamic ride sharing from University of Zürich (Switzerland), August 2007 (German)]

* [http://dynamicridesharing.org A site (under construction as of May 2008) dedicated to all things related to dynamic ridesharing]
* [http://www.gizalift.com Liftshare Uk and Ireland] An example of a new UK liftsharing scheme.

* [http://www.piggybackmobile.com Piggyback] An implementation of dynamic ridesharing for mobile phones, winner of the first round of the [http://code.google.com/android/adc.html Google Android Challenge 1] and $100 000 in round 2.

* [http://www.thedailycommute.com.au The Daily Commute] Allows the creation of casual and long term carpools with the ability to contact matches through mobile phone text messages.