Daniel Luke offers a vision of a killer app for the mobile Internet, based on the premise that “each transportation event is a golden opportunity for interaction, for information exchange”:
By making possible heretofore unthought-of transportation services, GPS and wireless technology will usher in a new era in personal mobility starting first within certain highly populated urban areas. GPS makes it possible to bring all surface transportation under one digital umbrella, thus making it possible to commodify the resulting information. My ambition is to put this information to use by establishing an all encompassing transportation service available to wireless subscribers. A service, moreover, that will be highly desirable to consumers, businesses, and society. Soon, more than ring tones, restaurant guides, music, or other services currently being offered, this will emerge as the major application for wireless and internet related technology.
Key to the success of this plan will be the availability of automobiles for short-term, private rental, amply dispersed within certain well-defined, yet dynamic geographic boundaries. Using PDAs, subscribers will be able to locate vehicles, calculate cost of rental, map routes, and get up to the moment traffic information. In addition to permitting access to vehicles, PDAs will serve as the crucial conduit through which information is transferred from consumer to vehicle and from vehicle to consumer. Within the ever expanding boundaries that the service is to be offered, subscribers will be able to make one-way trips, and will be able to return cars in front of their place of residence. One car will be able to service the needs of many people.
