Accounting for carbon emissions with GPS

News Article - 09 June 2009
Category: Environment

People interested in accounting for carbon emissions have been offered a high-tech version of hitchhiking.

The Avego software system, by Irish firm Mapflow, uses iPhones to join drivers with potential carpool passengers and also deals with payment for journeys.

It matches drivers' excess seats with people needing a lift, who are accepted or declined by the driver and then the iPhone's GPS system is used to work out the payment due on a per-mile basis.

Drivers get 85 per cent of the fee - which can be paid with Paypal or a credit card - while the rest goes to the company under the system, which will be officially launched in the USA next month.

"Public transit is great, but let's face it, most of the US doesn't have the public transportation system in place to take people from where they live to where they work," said Sean O'Sullivan, executive chairman of Mapflow.

"Our goal with Avego is to turn every empty seat into a transport option for passengers ... extending, feeding and augmenting the existing transportation network."

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