Avego, a subsidiary of Irish Mapping company Mapflow, is set to unleash a very interesting app on the world in 24 days. The app, which integrates into to Avego's server technology, allows a registered passenger to hitch a ride with another nearby Avego user. The ride isn't free: the driver gets paid, and presumably Avego gets a piece of the profit as well as shown in the video. Avego is meant to provide a way of reducing fuel costs by turning ordinary cars into "public transportation".
One can see obvious flaws in this system for American users at least. How many people really want to share their car with strangers, even if there is a cost savings involved? Maybe some form of ebay reputational system could solve this problem, but certainly concerns remain.
