One of the big sticking points with mass ridesharing in the future will be the question of liability for damge to city cars that are effectively being rented by the hour. The issue of who scratched the door, or dented the bumper, is probably going to cause problems, but there is a preventative solution; smarter damage assessment and digital recording.
In total, 21% of people who have rented a car in the past five years say they damaged it in some way, says Zegami. But only 20% say this was picked-up by the rental companies.
Zegami, which has recently agreed a joint venture with automotive technology solutions provider Ebbon Group to develop smart repair and damage identification systems. The joint venture business, which is called Ebbon Intelligence, will enable car hire companies to accurately assess depth and detail of damage to vehicles during rentals, benefiting customers and firms.
Robert Pilkington, joint CEO at Ebbon Group, said: “Car rental firms need to ensure they record any damage to vehicles before they are given to the next customers, and any new damage when vehicles are returned. Without this, customer service levels are impaired, and it can also cost the car rental company a significant amount of money when that damage is missed”.
Roger Noble, CEO and founder of Zegami said: “The JV with Ebbon Group is a really exciting development for both companies. Together, we are able to develop market leading solutions around the identification of changes in the condition of vehicles between hires for rental, as well as to leased and commercial vehicles.”
Zegami’s roots are in healthcare and life science and its cloud-based platform is extremely sophisticated and highly visual. It has recently developed a system to analyse large numbers of mammograms and identify abnormalities, which is the first stage of breast cancer screening.
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