part of the system that prevents cooperation and collaboration on a larger scale. Ridesharing relies on common timing, origination, destination and trust. Ridesharing often fails in these critical elements, and therefore lacks wide-spread acceptance. Timing and trust can now be successfully managed with the Internet or cellphone technology, both widely available to the average city-dweller. What we lack is a collective agreement about drop-off and pick-up points and a universal language to describe them.

Hovercars is a vision for a replicable and scalable protocol for ridesharing aggregation from which a flexible ecology of mobility services can evolve.

2. Solution and Implementation Just as the IP protocol enabled the complexity of today’s Internet, the trimtab in the rideshare problem is that of nomenclature and standardization. While ridesharers could agree to meet at “Bill’s house” or “5038 North Lake” this does not make for an easily communicable or common standard, unless Bill wanted carpoolers and drivers to converge en masse upon his residence. Individual locations and specialized location language do not help to aggregate passengers for greater efficiency nor increase the probability of ridesharing matching with others.

The Hovercars Protocol divides large metropolitan areas into clusters of pedestrian-friendly ridesharing nodes (HoverPorts) and establishes a lightweight and robust system of communicating location to drivers and riders.

The Hovercars Protocol is:

1. Hierarchical - 18,000 square miles of Southern California are subdivided multiple times until reaching “walkable” blocks approximately a half a mile on each side.
2. Concise - The Protocol is envisioned to be three letters followed by two numbers so that large areas like Southern California will still have enough address space for further expansion in the least amounts of bits. By text message or dashboard placard, the ridesharing code can be readable at 30 miles per hour, and entered quickly into a cellphone keypad.
3. Mapped to Pre-Existing Mental Models - Large land areas between freeway grid and major streets determine the top level of the protocol. This maps well to the driver’s experience of geography, and offers general information about the desired location. The areas are assigned three letter codes corresponding to commonly understood place names. The second and third numerical digits map to the mental model of a telephone keypad by repeatedly subdividing the land mass into a 3x3 grid and then numbering these sections 1-9. Even without a map, location can be deduced by the names of neighboring squares.
4. Scalable and Extensible - The Protocol is designed to describe a single metropolitan area, but additional prefixes be added to account for inner-metro and interstate commuting. For example: CA- or LA- (for Los Angeles). The 0 digit, for example, CTC50 for Union Station, is reserved to describe major existing public transportation hubs.
5. Participatory - The entire system is registered on a common database and GIS map. Hovercars maintains an assessment system used to evaluate potential HoverPorts. In the final ½ mile grid, a single HoverPort is chosen by the local ridership, using the assessment tools on the site.
6. Replicable - The Hovercars Protocol can be adapted to any municipality around the world. It can be implemented quickly and inexpensively by local citizens without the need for new infrastructure or government intervention.

Potential Usage Scenarios

• Alfred, a budding web designer living in Pasadena, commutes to Downtown LA once a week. He simply walks to the corner of Hill and Colorado (PAS22) to wait for drivers who are also going the Museum of Contemporary Art (DTN26). If Alfred notices that few drivers are heading to DTN26, Alfred can opt to shorten his sign to read DTN2 or DTN. Alfred figures that if he gets a ride to DTN, he’ll likely find a driver to DTN26. Alfred carries some Mileage Currency to give drivers that he feels deserve a “thank you.” If running late, Alfred can also hire a cab that offers discounted rates to those who use the protocol.
• Zoe desires greater reliability and security. She subscribes to the ridesharing club, SuperDrivers, which performs a background check on all riders and drivers. In case of a problem, Zoe can instantly summon a taxi partnering with SuperDrivers. Her social networking site, FaceSter links her with an additional pool of potential drivers who are friends of friends. Before Zoe steps out of her house, she sends a text message to SuperDriver Club and FaceSter. Each system alerts users planning to drive to GAR59 that Zoe needs a ride. With her GPS-enabled cellphone, Zoe doesn’t need to declare her HoverPort, the system and its drivers all know that Zoe is currently on the corner of Main and 2nd, better known as SGV45.

3. The Economic Viability of Networks Hovercar’s Protocol is a simple concept with far-reaching economic and social ramifications. As an information standard, operating expenses will be low-- covering maintenance and marketing of the standard. As the authors of the Protocol, Hovercars can find economic viability by governing the database and building additional tools based upon the Protocol.

• Grants - Grants from a wide variety of non-profit and government agencies are available for systems and services that reduce pollution, combat congestion, and decrease individual auto usage. The Hovercars system is particularly friendly to municipalities and agencies, reserving the highly desirable “0” address space for their use.
• Currency – In lieu of a centralized database that tracks riders given and received, Hovercars can also publish a mileage-based online currency, called HoverKarma, to facilitate exchange. This opportunity alone can make the system economically viable and offer a tradable reward for participation.
• Private Address Space - Additional address space can be leased to local businesses who wish to sponsor additional HoverPorts. For example “BRB55.teacafe” or “PAS78.jimsdiner” could meet the criteria for an excellent HoverPort.
• Consulting - Hovercars can help create metropolitan ridesharing standards in other cities. This could include holding public workshops to determine optimal HoverPort locations, outreach to increase awareness and creation of signage and wayfinding standards.

For the Internet, it isn’t the IP protocol which makes the system economically viable, but the ecology of systems overlaid on it. In the same way, the Hovercars Protocol can be made exponentially valuable by third-party systems and services built upon it.

• Trust and Reputation Tools - Online carpool clubs based on existing social networking systems will manage the trust circles and extend pools of drivers and passengers. To ensure high-levels of trust among their network, these clubs can issue ID cards, offer background checks, and maintain feedback mechanisms. Each club can offer differing levels of sophistication and service to reach different demographics.
• Hired Transportation – taxis, private buses and other services can take advantage of the Protocol as concentration mechanism for potential customers. A parallel market of reliable, paid drivers is necessary for the system to function.
• Carbon Credits – A for-profit service can reward individuals for their conservation efforts by allowing ridesharers to participate in the global exchange of greenhouse gas offsets, such as the Chicago Climate Exchange.

4. Implementation Team and Strategic Partners

Allen Wong

Innovator and “Big Picture” Designer with degrees in Industrial Design and Architecture, and winner of numerous awards for design and innovation. With more than four years experience marketing to government agencies, he is current employed with Johnson Fain, a prominent Los Angeles architecture and planning office. Allen will build partnerships with local agencies and direct the creation of the tools necessary for marketing and implementation of the Hovercars Protocol.

Berm Lee

Interaction Designer and User Interface Designer responsible for guiding complex software development processes using “user-centric” methods to ensure that software meets user needs and provides the optimal user-experience. Berm will optimize the user experience of Hovercars and provide direction to the software development team.

Justin Chee

Justin Chee will provide financial consulting in the areas of climate exchange instruments, financial models and mileage currency creation.

Strategic Partners:

Olivetech

Hovercars is partnered with Olivetech for web development. Olivetech is an service delivery organization with ten years of comprehensive experience in development of large-scale web and enterprise solutions.

Local Agencies and Municipalities

Hovercars seeks to form partnerships with local government agencies and municipalities such as: the South Coast Air Quality Management District, The Department of Transportation, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Agency, The City and County of Los Angeles, Southern California Association of Governments, and other local stakeholders.