Abstract
The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background informa tion supplied by the inventors: “The cost of vehicle ownership is becoming incre asingly expensive due to, for instance, rising maintenance costs, fuel costs, in surance, and depreciation, among other factors. Additionally, cities are becomin g increasingly dense, making car storage and parking difficult and costly. Furth er, each additional vehicle on the road presents an environmental toll, requirin g additional raw materials and leading to increased emission output (e.g., durin g use and during production). Car sharing enables users to reduce or eliminate m any of these vehicle-related transportation costs, for instance, by spreading th e costs across a plurality of users. Car sharing can also result in fewer cars o n the road, less traffic congestion, and more available parking spots in urban a reas. However, a successful car sharing service requires maintaining a delicate balance of supply and demand for cars. Existing car sharing solutions tend to si gnificantly overestimate demand and thus over-allocate vehicles in an area, lead ing to unnecessary cost and waste, and increasing associated service and environ mental costs.
NETL
NSTL