Shared cars to boost sharing economy?

Problems of identity and liability

Gu Dasong, an associate professor at the School of Law, Southeast University [Photo/China Daily]

Shared cars have become a cost-effective choice for people who are eager to make the best of the limited resources. But like all other new business models, the car-sharing business also comes with opportunities as well as challenges.

The first challenge is to ensure people use their real identity to register for carsharing services. True, service providers require a valid driver's license for identity authentication. But users can steal other people's personal information to register, which could be dangerous, especially if the user is a minor or juvenile.

Technical measures are both available and advisable for car-sharing companies, including using facial recognition to ensure a person uses genuine personal data to register. Besides, regulators and car-sharing companies should join hands to set up a credit system, which can be used to prepare a "black list" of wayward users and deduct penalty points from their record.

The second challenge is to identify the liabilities in case of a traffic accident. Most carsharing service providers put an exemption clause in the contract saying they cannot guarantee their cars are entirely safe, asking users to stop driving as soon as they sense a possible danger and contact personnel in the customer assistance section. That is a tricky clause, as most users cannot analyze the signs of a malfunction. That the clause frees the car-sharing companies from sharing any liability even if a car malfunction leads to an accident is, to say the least, unfair on users.

Therefore, regulators need to work out targeted regulations to deal with the multifarious problems that could arise in the car-sharing business.

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