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| Mocean Lab Vice President Dave Gallon, left, demonstrates Mocean Carshare car-sharing service to a customer at Union Station, Los Angeles, Jan. 4 (local time). Courtesy of Hyundai Motor |
Mocean Lab eyes successful debut of free-floating car-sharing,
By Nam Hyun-woo
LOS ANGELES ― In recent years, Hyundai Motor Group has been trumpeting its long-term initiative to become a mobility service provider. As part of the initiative, the carmaker is betting high on the city of Los Angeles as its test ground for various mobility projects it seeks to pursue, such as advanced car-sharing and shuttling services.
Spearheading the efforts is Mocean Lab, the group's future mobility venture conducting those pilot projects in Los Angeles, which the group believes is one of the megacities having the greatest potential and necessity for future mobility services.
"Los Angeles is one of the largest and most famous cities in the world and has the greatest potential and necessity for future mobility services, including car-sharing," said Jung Hun-taek, Hyundai Motor Group Vice President and the Head of its Mobility Business Group.
"The government of Los Angeles also has a strong drive to address the city's traffic issues, and we found our strategy and the government's drive are on the same page."
Established in August last year, Mocean Lab is preparing a series of test programs for mobility services including last-mile mobility, multi-modal transportation, shuttling and air taxi. As part of those programs, the venture has been providing pilot car-sharing service near four train stations in the city, including L.A. Union Station, under deals with the government of Los Angeles and LA Metro.
Mocean Lab is running Mocean Carshare services by using 15 Ioniq plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, with five available at a reserved parking space near Union Station, when The Korea Times visited on Jan. 4. The cars are currently only available to a small group of beta testers.
Using the service was similar to other existing car-sharing services, which are based on mobile apps. Unlike others, however, Mocean Lab's service does not require car keys or other RFID-type cards, meaning the app alone can handle the whole process including opening the door and starting the engine.
After the user pays a $12 subscription fee, the service costs $12 per hour. When moving the same distance, public transportation costs $7 but will take at least two hours, while a taxi or Uber will cost $60, Mocean Lab said.
When the service is commercialized later this month, the fare will be $4 per 20 minutes, which is relatively lower than rivals such as Car2Go, Zipcar and DriveNow.
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| Hyundai Motor Group Vice President Jung Hun-taek introduces the business model of Mocean Lab during a presentation in Los Angeles, Jan. 4 (local time). Courtesy of Hyundai Motor |
However, Mocean Lab officials said expanding the service and making huge profits from Mocean Carshare is not the company's goal.
After launching the service in March, Mocean Lab will run a phase two car-sharing project dubbed "one way free floating" which will move beyond the current model of requiring users to return the car to the original pickup station.
Phase two will enable users to return vehicles to affiliated on-road parking lots close to their final destination. Jung said Mocean Lab will expand coverage from downtown L.A. to the outskirts of the city by the end of this year.
This kind of system is neither a new business model, nor has it always been successful. In 2015, BMW suspended its DriveNow free-floating service in San Francisco, because of parking permit regulation, and Car2Go also suspended similar business in Miami in 2016.
To avoid following suit, Mocean Lab said it is in close talk with the city government and the Los Angeles Department of Transportation.
"What we are doing now are pilot projects or experiments for a long-term business, not immediate profits, and we are learning from those projects," Jung stressed. "Hyundai Motor Group will transform itself into a smart mobility solution provider by 2025 and Mocean Lab will continue to test various future mobility services for the group."
