Cars from a vending machine (1 Viewer)

[Linda]

Alibaba is starting a new service in China. Potential buyers can order a car from the vending machine and have 3 days for a test drive. Consumers are limited to 5 test drives a month. I can see some upside to this, but not for purchasing. How about test driving a nice convertible over a spring weekend? Somehow I don't think they will have crew cab long bed pickups. lol

Having monopolized the online world, Alibaba continues to push offline with investments in Chinese bricks and mortar retailers.

Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang said back in November, “physical stores serve an indispensable role during the consumer journey, and should be enhanced through data-driven technology and personalized services in the digital economy.”

So how does this vending machine work?

The smartphone user must open Alibaba’s Taobao app to scan a car. The app will then process the picture and let the user pick a color and other basic options.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-15/alibaba-launches-giant-car-vending-machines-china

 

[Anaeika]

One of these car vending machines was built near my home in Houston. It’s weird.

 

[Linda]

What kind of cars are there, and does a car dealer own it?

 

[Anaeika]

It’s called Carvana; & they are car rentals.

https://www.carvana.com/vendingmachine

 

[Laron]

I just don't get how they could fit in a vending machine!

 

[Anaeika]

Japan has a lot of parking garages that are high tech. You park in an elevator and it takes the car to a parking spot. It’s the same concept.

Makes me wonder what the future will he like for my kids if this is the tech now.

 

[Lila]

Japan has a lot of parking garages that are high tech. You park in an elevator and it takes the car to a parking spot.

That one is right out of some of my sci fi books! I was just reading a Heinlein book with this concept well described. He'd placed it in a dystopic future where the streets were too violent to try to police so such a 'car elevator' was a basic survival tool.

I'd imagine that they might get annoyed with people who repeatedly took 5 test drives a month. And how do they handle insurance on folks who test drove and crashed?

 

[Laron]

Japan has a lot of parking garages that are high tech. You park in an elevator and it takes the car to a parking spot. It’s the same concept.

That makes me recall the parking scene in the movie iRobot:

 

[Carl]

Alibaba is starting a new service in China.

It is probably the start of a new revolution in selling. We may see it or not but I can visualize for example all kinds of robots being sold that way in the future.

 

[Linda]

Along the same lines, I came across another service. It is Cars2go, and is a German car rental company, which is a subsidiary of Daimler. It operates in Europe and North America. The first cars brought into service were those 2 seat smart cars. In Austin, the fleet is being augmented with Mercedes sedans. This makes sense because a lot of driving is on freeways, and no one could feel safe in a shoebox surrounded by SUVs and trucks. Also, once away from downtown, there are few car charging stations. The fees are reasonable, too because they are inclusive of insurance and you don't have to fill up the tank when you are finished. The cars are picked up and returned in "home areas" with accessible parking. This means you can pick it up in one place and leave it another.

I am interested in this service for day trips out of town. I have an older vehicle, which is great for most everything I do, but would not be prudent to take it on a road trip to a nearby city. So for $79 I could drive a nice sedan for a day. For others, it makes a lot of sense, too. Say you take the bus or train to work downtown and need to meet a client or take people to lunch. You can use one of these cars on a minute or hourly basis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car2Go