Toyota is working on a project to incentivise commuters to car share, in partnership with ride sharing service Faxi.

The two companies will begin a pilot in Hamburg.

Faxi helps groups to share the costs of their carpool simply and fairly, by reimbursing the driver for fuel and wear and tear. By using smart phone telemetry to measure the proximity of the driver and passengers, it can establish whether or not journeys have been shared.

The app is designed to encourage long-term carpooling by verifying shared journeys so that meaningful incentives can be provided to commuters who travel in this way.

One of Faxi’s live UK projects increased co-worker carpooling from under 10 to more than 200 passengers and drivers per month in just six months, demonstrating that long-term co-worker carpooling can be achieved with incentives like reserved parking.

Toyota Financial Services and Toyota Insurance Management have contracted with Faxi to build a Toyota branded Faxi carpooling platform to offer incentivised carpooling to the largest employers in Hamburg.

Tony Lynch, chief executive and co-founder of Faxi, said: “Large organisations across the globe have workplace parking issues. Providing reserved parking to co-workers who carpool can reduce commuting times considerably and is enough to encourage drivers to publish their commute to co-workers. This creates a private Uber-style arrangement in which the driver is bound by the same HR policies as the passengers.

“While the Faxi technology is complex, the policy is very simple. We believe this partnership with Toyota can benefit 3,000 large employers in Germany and up to nine million daily commuters. Germany is aggressively looking to tackle the car emissions problem and we’re looking to be a big part of that solution with Toyota.”

Ralph Rase, manager corporate planning, Communication, Innovation, Toyota Kreditbank GmbH, said: “Faxi will help us build relationships with passengers and drivers today that will sustain and grow as they become the driverless commuters of tomorrow. This is a game-changing technology and we’re excited to get behind it with our brand.”

More articles on: