The sharing economy has evolved into a full service business, where we can book almost anything online, from renting a car to book a room in a sharing apartment complete with additional bed and breakfast.
A few years ago, we need to prepare everything long before we travel, sometimes a month before the D-date just to make sure that we get the hotel room at the best rate possible or to book a rental car before they are fully booked. We then contact a few hotels and some car rental agencies, just to compare the best prices. But now we have all the choices in our hand. No need to worry with late travel bookings, you can find a shared apartment or an electric car for rent just with a few clicks from your smartphone as you landed in an airport.
But the question is, how the sharing economy can fulfill its mission as the most fair and equal economic system in the global world? We know that AirBNB takes 15% cut from all transactions within their platform (15% is a HUGE number!), the same applies to Uber and other sharing services, they take between 15%-20% directly from the driver’s commission. Is that fair?
From the customer perspective, using car-sharing or renting a car does not mean they want to share their behavioral data. Customers want that their privacy is fully protected and respected, including the way they use sharing-services because this kind of data can be used by other party for commercial purposes. But seems in todays’ sharing economy, there’s still a “blur” line between sharing services and sharing users data. We saw an increase in fraud and hacking attempts, and it scares people away from using their credit card or submitting their private data.
Helbiz believes that car sharing is meant to be a fun but yet secure experience. There should be no intermediary between the customer and the car owner. The data should be owned by its owner, which is the customer itself. It should be affordable, convenient and rewarding.
Helbiz is a peer-to-peer vehicle sharing, where you can unlock the vehicle (car, motorcycle, bicycle, etc) and start using it directly from the app. You can pick the vehicle that you want, unclock and drive right away.
The platform is built on blockchain, to create a solution that allows users to share their cars with ease and secure. The end result will be a safer experience for customers where they can trust each other. Doing deals with someone you have never met requires some level of “trust” and that’s where Helbiz come with Helbiz Coin or HBZ. The Helbiz coin (HBZ) is a cryptocurrency aimed at being in the center of all transportation service transactions globally, from peer-to-peer bike rentals to public transportation and even private jets, making it more secure and transparent. It is also the preferred currency on the Helbiz Platform and Helbiz aim to make it a universally accepted transportation payment method.
All vehicles within the platform is fully covered by one of the largest insurance companies in the world. And Helbiz also using facial scan and fingerprint to verify both the owners and the drivers everytime the car is rented. The on-board hardware technology can also detect when the car needs maintenance or if there is a problem with the car’s components, to increase the safety of the drivers.
But what’s important is that Helbiz will never exposed the users data in any way. Helbiz does not gather users personal driving data and car logs to sell to advertisers or 3rd parties. The data belongs to the owner, its fully encrypted and decentralized and only users can choose what to do with it. From driving logs to fuel efficiency and habits, user can decide whether to keep it private or share with interested 3rd parties, such as car manufactures or insurance agencies in exchange for tokens.
Blockchain has becoming part of our daily life. People said that it is the most secure technology on the planet, because it is immutable, it can’t be hacked, it can’t be manipulated, it works the way it supposed to be. And Helbiz is maximizing those advantages to bring the new era of sharing.