Cualquiera te lo puede decir Conducir en una ciudad, por muy extenso que sea, es un Dolor de cabeza importante. It’s much easier to ditch the car altogether in light of those traffic and parking issues. Still, it’s tough with the limits of public transit and taxi cabs. That is where ride-sharing companies like Uber y Lyft come in. Love them or loathe them, they’ve started a trend that even major auto companies have decided to get in on. After a beta trial in San Francisco last year, BMW has officially launched its ride-sharing program, ReachNow, in Seattle this month, and we decided to give an in-depth look at it.

As of this early phase, most of the service’s weirdest and most intriguing offerings are not available, but the basic idea—pay by the minute to cruise in a BMW (that’s right, you are the driver)—has already begun running pretty smoothly. With ReachNow’s launch, BMW has many new mobility options for early adopters to come. BMW plans on future launches in three other North American cities this year alone, and hopefully hit a total of ten metropolitan areas after. Before we discuss that, we’re going to get into what makes this service distinct and break down its basic idea for the car-sharing program.

You start by signing up for the service using your credit card and a driver’s license. ReachNow even offers an interesting instant signup option. If you take photos of both sides of your driver’s license, then take a selfie, and the app will compare the images before automatically confirming your membership. Gas, street-meter parking, and limited insurance are included with this service (right no it’s at a ($0.41-per-minute rate. It should be noted that the fine print gives BMW and ReachNow the right to apply “dynamic pricing” to their rates, which BMW representatives said they do not plan to activate within the service “at this time.”Now there is no monthly or annual cost, other than the one-time lifetime membership fee. The idea is for people who want to drive somewhere (work, a movie, a friend’s house), they will be able to hop into a ReachNow car near a selected starting point and then leave the car behind at the desired destination for the next driver to rent and take wherever they please.

¿Y qué pasa con los coches? Por eso es tan importante. ReachNow de BMW tiene algunas opciones de vehículos realmente envidiables: el MINI Cooper, el i3 totalmente eléctrico y el sedán 328i xDrive. Esos tres coches (que incluyen transmisión automática) vienen equipados con lujos como asientos con calefacción, techo corredizo automático, asientos traseros, un sistema de sonido BMW de serie con funcionalidad Bluetooth y acceso a los famosos motores de BMW, como los 134 CV del Mini Cooper y los 240 CV del 328i xDrive. Por supuesto, basándonos en lo que sabemos por las declaraciones del miembro de la junta directiva de BMW, Peter Schwarzenbauer, sobre los servicios de "alto nivel" y los conductores con licencia de BMW, ReachNow acabará siendo mucho más costoso que Uber o Lyft. En este momento, ReachNow no ofrece los mismos beneficios que Uber o Lyft. cars to your doorstep; instead, it makes users walk a few blocks to grab one off the street.

Schwarzenbauer proposed that current BMW and Mini car owners join ReachNow’s car-sharing pool in order to lend their cars to strangers “if you’re away for vacation for a week or on a business trip and your car isn’t being used” (Cnet). Now there’s no word on the rates that participating car owners could expect to be paid, nor when such a program would launch (and there’s the problem regarding private car owners installing ReachNow’s GPS-tracking sensors, among other privacy issues). It has been said that buying into the system might make sense as a path to a discount on a BMW car or maintenance in exchange for letting total strangers put their key in your ignition. Really, though, it’s hard to imagine a world where a BMW or Mini owner who paid a premium for their car could be willing to risk their investment for a percentage of that $0.49/minute rate.

En definitiva, nos intriga mucho cómo podría acabar funcionando este servicio en manos de los conductores con licencia promedio. ¿BMW ganará seguidores entre los conductores nuevos y jóvenes, ansiosos por probar un BMW o impresionar a su pareja? ¿O se producirá el peor escenario posible con una oleada de conductores inexpertos que envíen estos BMW al taller por malas maniobras? Se trata de un programa audaz por parte de BMW, pero parece que tal vez hayan pisado el acelerador demasiado pronto.