Improving Shared Mobility with Mobile Technology: The Case of ekar in Dubai

Dubai motorists spend an average of 80 hours stuck in rush-hour traffic annually, costing businesses billions of dollars in lost workhours. More than 570 cars per 1,000 people, a number projected to increase with the arrival of Expo 2020, fuels this congestion each day. Reducing individual car ownership is one solution to this challenge; carsharing services provide a proven pathway. Indeed, car-sharing service car2go demonstrated that each vehicle in their fleet removed up to 11 personal cars from the road. Embracing this option, in 2017 Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) launched a car-sharing service with two private firms: Udrive and ekar. Both firms offer a smartphone app and technology with which users can find, unlock, and rent cars at more than 45 locations across Dubai. The objective of this paper is to explore in case study format the strategy and technology of one of these providers, ekar, while evaluating the implications of blockchain functionality and internet of things features on the digital drivetrain of the carsharing service.