Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000
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Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000
#2Sadly not surprising.
Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000
#3I briefly thought about starting a business like this a couple years ago.
During this thought exercise I came to the conclusion that an embedded GPS would be essential to maintain security.
Another idea would be making your social network your security system, by only allowing rentals to people within two degrees of separation on a social networking site.
Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000
#4I was surprised by the founder spending time in his letter to users talking positively about other players in the space (RelayRides, GetAround) and why their car sharing models should still work.
He didn't have to do this, but it struck me as a nice and unexpected gesture.
Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000
#5That's sad to hear, but I think he's right to realize that it's going to be really hard to deal with losses when the auto theft community gets wind of their business.
I am always amazed by the efficiency and technological prowess that the kids I grew up with who steal cars apply to their trade (even if I wish they were involved in a better trade).
One kid I grew up with now has a ring of six guys working for him, paying good benefits and matching retirement accounts, where all they do are steal Honda Civics. Just that model. I swear he's implemented Kaizen into his workflow.
Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000
#6I briefly thought about starting a business like this a couple years ago. During this thought exercise I came to the conclusion that an embedded GPS would be essential to maintain security. Another idea would be making your social network your security system, by only allowing rentals to people within two degrees of separation on a social networking site.
> by only allowing rentals to people within two degrees of separation on a social networking site
Thereby increasing the chicken and egg problem ten fold
Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000
#7I briefly thought about starting a business like this a couple years ago. During this thought exercise I came to the conclusion that an embedded GPS would be essential to maintain security. Another idea would be making your social network your security system, by only allowing rentals to people within two degrees of separation on a social networking site.
GPS would be useless for a determined thief, be it by simply jamming the GPS/cell signal or a RF sniffer to locate the (cellphone/whatnot) transmitter in the car and destroy it. From what I see, your social network sanction would be the only feasible option.
Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000
#8How can Techcrunch say "the group stole four cars totaling $400,000" and then immediately print a letter from the company saying "The total value of these cars was around $300,000"? Even though in this case it's ok if you read the letter, it is the kind of thing that makes me feel like I shouldn't rely on Techcrunch's reporting. It's really not a big deal but how did that happen? Why are the numbers different?
Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000
#9I briefly thought about starting a business like this a couple years ago. During this thought exercise I came to the conclusion that an embedded GPS would be essential to maintain security. Another idea would be making your social network your security system, by only allowing rentals to people within two degrees of separation on a social networking site.
> by only allowing rentals to people within two degrees of separation on a social networking site Thereby increasing the chicken and egg problem ten fold
Not only that; what value is the middle man bringing in that situation, vs. "Hey, Bob, can I borrow your car for a while? Here's some cash."? Non-zero? Sure, but probably not enough to capture and survive on.
Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000
#10How can Techcrunch say "the group stole four cars totaling $400,000" and then immediately print a letter from the company saying "The total value of these cars was around $300,000"? Even though in this case it's ok if you read the letter, it is the kind of thing that makes me feel like I shouldn't rely on Techcrunch's reporting. It's really not a big deal but how did that happen? Why are the numbers different?
I've noticed this too. There have been several cases in the past few months where when reading TechCrunch I was like "Wait, what?".