So, from a transportation perspective, HourCar style services (where someone pays a moderate monthly fee for the privilege to rent a car at a low hourly rate to run chores) make a lot of sense – allow people the flexibility of personal vehicles, while reducing their household expenses on cars and reducing the ratio of vehicles required per person at the same time. There are some disadvantages to the system, however – renting a car isn’t the same as owning. Apart from a drop in personal freedom (you can’t quite hop in the car whenever you want), there are issues of personal comfort that seem minor, but in total count for a lot. I’m thinking of things like having the radio programmed the way you like, or having the seat set appropriately for you.
Thinking about this, I realized that solutions to these inconveniences are within the grasp of modern technology. Just like in personal computers, where one can log in as a certain profile and have all the right shortcuts/programs/etc. load, a similar system could be employed for cars. Things like seat controls and radio programming are becoming increasingly electronic (one has only to look at my wife’s 2001 Prius to see that). It would be no difficult thing to implement a system whereby one had only to enter a username and maybe a password to have the car adjust to the previous settings, with no need to try and reset everything. As cars become more and more wired, this could be more and more useful – I’m thinking of integrated mapping services and possibly other electronically controlled settings like mirrors or even child safety features (like locks and windows). Mmmm, the possibilities… I wonder if this has already been done in some services. Might be worth a look.