Fun Innovations Friday: Artificial Intelligence Is Helping People Avoid Car Rental Nightmares

I don't have a lot of experience renting cars. I can count the number of times I've rented a car in the past 10 years on one hand. Fortunately, I've been lucky to not have any issues dealing with car rental agencies either. I've heard horror stories of customers returning cars, only to be charged exorbitant fees due to damages they didn't cause. Then it's a he-said-she-said situation unless you were savvy enough to take your own inspection images of the rental on your phone—before and after the rental.

Because of situations like these, among other reasons, one company has decided that it's going to fix these problems with a new technology specifically to inspect damages on car rentals.

ProovStation, a French pioneer in AI-powered car inspection scanners and one of the fastest-growing innovators in the car rental industry, developed a drive-through, AI-powered, car inspection scanner that can perform over 600 scans per hour to document the condition of each car.

In a market that's expected to grow by 9% to reach 42.65 billion USD by 2027 in the USA, the company has made it and its technology essential, increasing transparency and customer experience.

The company, headquartered in France, has opened offices in Florida, USA to expand its reach and scalability. ProovStation has already sold 200 units worldwide and performed over 200,000 inspections per month. The car rental market is expecting to see short-term rentals increase in the coming years with North America expected to dominate the market from 2024 to 2029.

Onto the technology at hand.

The drive-through AI-powered scanner, CarStation, is based on a unique technology that combines a new generation AI and a state-of-the-art optronic system (8 cameras, 4K definition) to perform a 360-degree scan of the car within seconds. The scanner captures more than 250 4K images which are analyzed by ProovStation's algorithms, identifying all damages and generating a detailed report that includes vehicle information, a list of damages, and even tire information. All reports are timestamped, geolocated, and secure.

Rental operators can provide customers with a straightforward inspection experience. By simply driving through the scanner, renters can obtain a comprehensive damage report. Additionally, pre-checkout "before images" are saved for potential claims, while post-drop-off inspections ensure new damages are accurately identified and recorded. This will hopefully give customers a fairer inspection process that's not subject to human error, while rental companies can enjoy improved efficiency and time savings.

ProovStation has already added its technology to 5 major U.S. airports: Fort Lauderdale, Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, and Maui. More CarStations are due to be deployed in the next months in Orlando, Washington, or Nashville. The company has also partnered with SiXT following a one-year test and will be massively deployed throughout its American network.

Fun Innovations Friday

Created by the editors of New Equipment Digest and Plant Services, Fun Innovations Friday is a feel-good blog that showcases how advances in science, math, engineering, and technology are making our world more whimsical. Here’s another post that is guaranteed to brighten your day.

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