Certified CenterFor years, most automakers have gotten their vehicles onto to American roads through traditional means: selling them individually to consumers or selling them in fleets to rental facilities. Beyond that, though, it's been hard to find other, creative ways to put wheels on roads, especially for luxury brands like BMW, who are priced out of most rental services for obvious reasons.
In some parts of the country, however, BMW has showed creativity in exposing people to the brand by using the DriveNow program, which essentially allows consumers to rent a BMW directly from the automaker for as little as an hour at a time, but according to respected news service Reuters, BMW could be interested in putting together an Uber-like service that serves essentially the same purpose as a taxicab with one exception: there won't be any drivers.
Plenty of technology has spilled forth over the course of the last several years that suggest autonomous driving might not be as far into the future as we think, and BMW would love to put together a rideshare program that features autonomous driving technology and is run by the automaker itself. This would be a cool and innovative way to get more BMW models out into the world, and of course it would compete with Uber and other rideshare programs, which have proven so popular and lucrative the last couple of years.
We here at Fields BMW Lakeland, like all Lakeland car dealerships, still aren't sure what the immediate future is for autonomous driving, but we think this particular use of it would be pretty interesting and would help usher BMW as a brand into the future. It's still quite a ways from happening, if it ever happens at all, but we love the creativity of the concept!
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