Video: Yourdrive platform to allow remote vehicle access

Kiwis will be able to rent their car out easier when they are not using it with the country’s largest car sharing platform.

The Yourdrive platform has more than 25,000 vehicle owners and renters in New Zealanders registered and has introduced a new technology that will send a digital key to a smart device allowing the vehicle to be accessed by a renter.

The digital key facilitates rentals without the need for owner and renter to meet, allowing remote vehicle access. The device allows anyone renting the vehicle to receive a code to their phone which will open the car via the Yourdrive app when they pick it up.

Yourdrive chief executive officer Oscar Ellison says the technology is similar to the electric scooter rental model like Lime and Wave.

“Peer to peer vehicle rentals are growing rapidly throughout New Zealand, particularly in urban areas where public transport infrastructure is well developed. It means that car owners who take the train or bus to work, or don’t use their car on the weekends, can derive an income from their vehicle when it is not in use.”

Vehicle owners are earning up to $1500 for longer bookings, with Yourdrive’s biggest earner earning over $11,000 so far.

Under the Yourdrive Go programme, the company will cover the $250 cost to retrofit vehicles and have installed hardware in more than a dozen vehicles around Auckland and Wellington.

“We have a really diverse range of vehicles on the fleet now – including larger vans which people use to move flats, and even a number of EVs which will be also fitted with the new device.”

“Yourdrive Go is going to get more people into car sharing, and reduce the need for car ownership, which is ultimately great for New Zealand and great for the environment,” Ellison adds.

Ellison says Yourdrive’s research suggests when remote access hardware is installed, the vehicle is rented fives times more frequently.

“Public transport is a multimodal concept – you might take the train or bus to work, then take an Uber to an evening event – but for a weekend away you would turn to car sharing.”

The research shows Saturday and Sundays are the most popular days for car sharing in New Zealand, likely due to weekend trips away from home.