
ReachNow – BMW car sharing service in Seattle - chirau
http://www.bmwcarsharing.com/
======
ajju
Hi everyone, we built the end to end technology that powers ReachNow - the
apps as well as the operations engine. The in-car hardware was all BMW. We're
kind of like an operating system to run new mobility and transit services. I'd
be happy to answer almost anything :)

Shameless promotion:

Android app:
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.reachnow.c...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.reachnow.carsharing)

iPhone app: [https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/reach-
now/id972572486?mt=8](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/reach-
now/id972572486?mt=8)

Also, we are hiring: aj+hn@ridecell.com or
[http://www.RideCell.com/careers.html](http://www.RideCell.com/careers.html)

~~~
jlj
Could your services be used to manage private car-sharing networks? For
example, a group of neighbors or residents of a gated community put their
vehicles in a car-sharing pool? Mostly would be used for grocery runs or road
trips with the same start and end location.

This concept might be a good opportunity for US sunbelt retirement communities
where traditional ownership doesn't make sense due to the car sitting empty in
100F+ all summer long. In some of those communities there are plenty of shaded
parking spots under the solar panels.

~~~
ajju
Yes it can. I completely agree - both in dense urban cities with very little
parking and in retirement communities, universities etc private car-sharing
networks would be a win-win for residents and the folks managing the
community.

------
rdl
Yet another reason to hate the San Francisco City Government -- they killed
DriveNow SF by refusing to issue a (fairly common in most cities) bulk parking
permit to BMW DriveNow (basically, all the cars would be bundled into one
account and would pay parking tolls collectively -- either based on estimated
usage or observed usage.)

~~~
wpietri
Given that San Francisco's parking situation is not like most cities, what
makes you think this was a mistake? As opposed to a reasonable choice you just
happen to disagree with.

As far as I can tell, they were asking for permission to park anywhere. Maybe
there's a general-case problem there to solve for, but I'm not sure why "by-
the-minute car rental for rich people" is a pressing problem for the city
government to solve given the long list of other possible priorities.

The city has certainly been very supportive of car sharing in general; I've
been a user in SF for more than a decade and the city has done a lot to push
it forward.

~~~
Retric
Care sharing reduces demand for parking spaces and promote public transit
which is generally considered a good thing.

~~~
mikeyouse
And San Francisco has upwards of 1,000 on-street car sharing parking spots all
over the city;

[http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Car-sharing-firms-
gett...](http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Car-sharing-firms-
getting-900-S-F-street-parking-5387271.php)

~~~
ajju
Unfortunately these spots are currently allocated to services that almost
entirely do A -> A carsharing, meaning you have to return the car where you
picked it up. This all but eliminates the possibility that users can use these
services for short trips with long stops (e.g. going to work, going for a
shopping expedition that will take some time etc) because it is cost
prohibitive.

Having met the SF leadership I know they are working on this, and it's a
difficult political issue, but I hope San Francisco can allocate more on-
street parking to free floating carsharing.

------
guptaneil
Why provide premium cars and then cover them in decidedly non-premium ReachNow
stickers? I'm surprised this service is actually _by_ BMW.

I understand wanting to use your cars for marketing, but at least do what
zipcar did: don't place any stickers on the driver side so the driver feels
like they're getting into a premium car.

~~~
jonknee
They are the cheapest models BMW makes. They are premium compared to other
shared cars (Car2Go!), not compared to BMWs.

~~~
guptaneil
Sure, but BMW's branding is that they only make premium cars. This would be a
bit like Apple plastering its iPhone SE or Apple Watch Sport in poorly-
designed stickers because hey, it's their low-end model.

~~~
jonknee
I just walked around and saw a bunch of their cars and thought it was neat
that there were so many. If they weren't labeled I would have had no idea. At
the moment it's great advertising.

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a-robinson
It's not clearly advertised on their landing page, but it looks like the
lifetime registration fee is being waived for a limited time, so if you're
interested at all you should consider signing up now.

~~~
ajju
This is true.

------
jonknee
I just walked around downtown Seattle and saw about a half dozen of their i3
cars. Impressive visibility for launch day. I haven't driven an electric
vehicle before so I think I'll use the free sign-up just to get behind the
wheel of one.

~~~
ajju
I think you'll like the i3.

~~~
jonknee
I've heard a lot of good things about it, including in this somehow
fascinating talk about a _complete_ teardown:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDr4L6BzpP8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDr4L6BzpP8)

tl;dr A guy who sells $500k reports of cars for competing manufacturers says
the i3 is revolutionary (in materials and construction).

------
yarou
I really miss DriveNow in SF and the South Bay. It was really convenient if I
missed my shuttle in the mornings, or if I had to come back to the city on the
weekends. One more reason to ditch SF and move to Seattle I suppose.

~~~
dmoy
No don't move to Seattle it rains a lot and there's no sun for 9 months.

Also, volcanoes.

~~~
mikestew
You'll get used to the rain. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are rare. If
you want to keep people away, tell 'am about the astonishingly shitty drivers,
because after sixteen years they continue to annoy me on a daily basis.

~~~
rifung
What's wrong with the drivers? I find they drive slowly sometimes but it's not
really a big deal. I find driving in SF to actually be scary on the other hand
with people forcefully merging into your lanes.

I've been here for almost two years but I'm still not used to the lack of
sunshine for most of the year.

~~~
rconti
You mean you haven't noticed the "you go first" wave battles that can last
minutes on end? And the fact that, no matter how many lanes an Interstate has,
they'll all be going exactly 59mph, making passing or trying to make your exit
near-impossible?

------
verg
I really love using Car2Go in Brooklyn. I transit/Bike/Walk 95% of the time,
but it's great to have a one-way option when I take a trip that doesn't line
up well transit lines.

~~~
demian00
interesting fact about car2go: car2go is no longer active in Ulm(Germany)
which was the first pilot project

------
mdorazio
This is interesting to me because it may be a solution to "almost there"
autonomous vehicle services in the next few years. Rather than getting picked
up and dropped off at exactly your desired locations, users could pick up a
car at a designated parking lot, drive the car the last mile to their
destination and then the car would drive itself back to the nearest lot.

The fleet management aspect of it is less interesting since I've seen quite a
few companies operating in this space already.

------
wolframarnold
This is actually BMW's second foray into ride sharing stateside. They ran
their Drive Now service in San Francisco for a couple of years. It never took
off, because there were too few places to pick up and drop off cars, and their
all-electric fleet never solved the fleet management aspect, eg charging, etc.
Their mobile app also was clunky at best. Coincidentally Drive Now works
fantastically well, eg in Berlin, where you can find a car on pretty much
every city block. You drive it where you want to go and can drop it off at any
public meter. You only pay the distance traveled, in the neighborhood of
0.40€/km. Typical inner city rides work out to a few bucks. It's cheaper and
faster than cabs or Uber. It didn't take off in San Francisco, I would
speculate comma because they never cut a deal with the city to let them use
any parking meter as drop off point.

------
halotrope
That looks very similar to DriveNow[1] that is used here in Berlin Germany
quite a lot. I am surprised, that BMW is making its own now as DriveNow is a
Cooperation of BMW and Sixt (A rental company).

Their service works really, really well I have to say. Almost every time there
is a car parked close by, you rent them by the minute and park them anywhere.
It is also much cheaper than Uber a cab or god forbid your own car.

[1]: [http://drive-now.com](http://drive-now.com)

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autotune
The one-way dropoff feature is what would be the main incentive for me to try
out this service over something like getaround. Too bad it's only in Seattle
and not in SF =).

------
joshcanhelp
Looking forward to trying it but the app crashed hard, twice (got the iOS
"charge your phone" screen when I tried to turn it off despite being at half
battery), then just told me I needed to contact support. Will try again
though, really want to try out the i3.

Any plans to add premium models like the M series?

~~~
ajju
Hi joshcanhelp. Sorry to hear that. ReachNow ordinarily handles customer
support but if you email me the account you signed up with at
support@ridecell.com we'll have the iOS team check it out.

The 3 series cars are in the fleet right now. Can't comment on a specific
model but there'll be more coming :)

~~~
seivan
It took a team to make that iOS application? You might be taken for a ride
there. I saw the app on iTunes.

~~~
ajju
One very hard working engineer made the iOS app but we do have an iOS team so
that person can take some well deserved time off.

As an engineer myself, consider that you may be underestimating the complexity
of working with hardware in the car, something most apps don't have to worry
about.

------
brotherjerky
Just signed up. I really wish this extended to the east side, I would use it
for my daily commute.

------
biot
$24/hour to drive and $18/hour to park, and that's promotional pricing. Though
it does cap at $110/day, so if you use it for five hours you might as well
have fun with it until the next day.

~~~
grumble1234
That seems insanely high... How does it stack up to Car2Go?

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uw_rob
Is there any way to register as a non-american? I'm moving to Seattle in a
couple weeks for an Internship and it would be great to be able to get this
all setup before I head out.

~~~
ajju
There is! If you call the support number they'll walk you through it. There is
also a retail location in Belltown where you can walk in and register.

------
patryn20
Actually saw one of their BMW i3s driving on Bellevue yesterday. Was impressed
at how quickly it accelerated. Doubt the battery life lasted long driving like
that though.

~~~
mikestew
100% torque at zero RPM means even a Leaf is zippy from 0-20mph. After that it
transforms back to an underpowered compact car. I3 had more horsepower and
torque, so I imagine that it's even more fun. Spirited driving does take its
toll on range, though.

~~~
rconti
I ran an i3 up to low 80s and it felt pretty quick the whole time. Even though
I'm a BMW owner, I questioned why anyone would buy a premium electric car,
because I pictured them as being economy first, everything else second.

Having driven and really enjoyed the i3, I realized -- why does a premium car
make less sense in the electric segment as in the gas segment? Either way,
they're unnecessary, but it doesn't matter there aren't tangible advantages
over their econobox counterparts.

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Icyerasor
I really would love to da an AMA about it. But I guess I'm not allowed. I'll
check with marketing some time after the launch party ;)

~~~
ajju
Hey there - is this Matthew? I do not believe an AMA is against HN rules, send
me an email so I can help! - Aarjav

~~~
Icyerasor
Hey Aarjav, nope it's Andy. We should check with Matthew if we can do an AMA
on reddit some time :)

