Mobility as a service

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is transportation that you can buy but do not have to own.

For example, you can pay an Uber car to pick you up, but you do not own that car.

Or you can pay for a city bike to travel around the city, but you do not own the bike.

In each case, you pay for the transportation.

Public buses, taxis, subways, high-speed rail, and airplanes are already forms of MaaS.

MaaS is already becoming popular around the world from the US, Europe, Japan, Korea, to China.

Examples

Examples include

• ride-sharing
• e-hailing services (matches passengers with vehicles)
• bike-sharing programs,
• and car-sharing services
• on-demand "pop-up" bus services.
• self-driving cars

Short-term impact

MaaS may decrease how many people own cars. This is already the case in China, where more than half of the population do not have cars--they just do not need it.

Benefits

MaaS can decrease traffic.

Self driving cars (AV)

Uber, Tesla, General Motors, Waymo, Apple, and Local Motors are building self-driving vehicles (or autonomous vehicles, AVs).

Self-driving cars could take people where they wanted to go at a lower cost than a taxi or ridesharer. It could help benefit the environment, make transportation faster, and even improve healthcare.