Mapflow Ltd. has launched Avego, a new GPS-based mobile technology designed to reduce wasted seat capacity in cars and expand commuting options.

Avego, pronounced 'a-vay-go,' pairs passengers and drivers through a system using iPhones and other mobile devices. Billed as a cross between carpooling, public transport and eBay, Avego matches a driver's unoccupied seats to passengers, reducing commute costs for all participants.

"Mapflow is a ten-year-old established leader in GPS-based transport technologies, from road pricing and congestion charging to PAYD insurance, with many European clients," said Sean O'Sullivan, executive chairman of Mapflow, San Francisco.

"While this is a brand-new market and new set of technologies, the research and development we've done over the past 10 years is very related," he said.

Mr. O'Sullivan was the co-founder of MapInfo, the company that claims to have first popularized street mapping on personal computers in the 1980s.

Avego automatically apportions the cost of the commute, providing a financial incentive to commuters frustrated by high gasoline prices.

"With Avego, we are targeting consumers that care about green issues, those that want to improve the quality of their life through less time driving and commuting and those that are sensitive to the pricing of gas," Mr. O'Sullivan said.

Described by Mapflow as a "shared transport" application, the Avego system lets a driver in transit advertise excess capacity in the car using the new iPhone's GPS feature. This capacity is then matched to riders who need to go in the same direction.

Drivers and passengers who want to join the Avego shared transport community can sign up for the beta at http://www.avego.com.

Drivers only require an iPhone. Passengers can use either an iPhone or a regular mobile phone.
Mapflow is not currently planning to serve mobile advertising on Avego.

Arriving in the midst of a global green movement, Avego intends to capitalize on social networking to encourage more responsible and environmentally friendly behavior.

Mapflow will get the word out about Avego by working with regional transport authorities in markets in the United States, including the top 150 metropolitan planning organizations.

In addition, Mapflow will work with large corporate, educational and institutional campuses that have an environmental commitment to spread the use amongst their workers, as well as government agencies including the U.S. and State Departments of Transportation and U.S. Congressional Committees on Transport and Infrastructure and Ways and Means.

Features in the upcoming Avego system include voice response, text messaging and Web interfaces with real-time information for drivers and riders to investigate and define the available transport capacity.

Avego lets drivers automatically advertise excess capacity that can be filled by paying passengers

There is an option for communities of users to self-restrict matches to their own community.

Avego offers a self-correcting feedback mechanism for drivers and riders to rate each other, and subsequently restrict matches to those within the user's criteria. For example, a female driver may choose to only accept female passengers.

Avego also monitors positions of riders and drivers to ensure reliability of service and provide safety warnings.

"With both a tech-savvy population and some of the country's worst commuting problems being right here in the San Francisco Bay Area, a system like Avego could get more people to try carpooling," said Susan Heinrich, 511 Rideshare and Bicycling coordinator at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, in a written statement.

"It appears to be an easy-to-use system and we look forward to seeing whether commuters embrace this new technology," she said.