The German Car Sharing Association has announced that over 1.7 million people in Germany are currently registered with car sharing rental companies such as car2go. Car-sharing is officially in. Therefore, Mercedes is to extend its services to private car sharing by launching the Mercedes me app.
The car sharing app allows A-Class drivers to share their vehicles with a specified group of users which includes their family, friends or colleagues, who can book the vehicle for a fixed period of time.
The selected user with authorisation can open the car by using the app and through the Mercedes me communication module that is installed in the vehicle. Then, the car is started with the key which is left in the car. The temporary use of the key is enabled over the air by Mercedes me – the key can only be used during the sharing period. Once the user is finished with the vehicles and wants to return it, they just have to put the key back in the car and close the car with the app. This will bring the sharing period to an end.
The car comes complete with a Digital Vehicle Key, which allows the car to be opened, closed and started contactlessly by means of Near Field Communication (NFC). In Germany, the new A-Class is now available with a Digital Vehicle Key Sticker with a built-in NFC controller, meaning that the Digital Vehicle Key Sticker does not necessarily need to be accessed by a NFC-capable smartphone.
