Intelligent, cutting-edge technical solutions based on the latest information technologies are gradually being implemented in the infrastructure of Polish cities. The areas in which smart cities operate are diverse, often involving completely different dimensions of urban development. According to Professor Nicos Komninos, smart cities consist of four fundamental elements:
- a creative population carrying out knowledge-intensive activities or a cluster of such activities;
- effectively functioning institutions and procedures for knowledge creation, enabling its acquisition, adaptation and development;
- developed broadband infrastructure, digital spaces, e-services and online tools for knowledge management;
- proven ability to innovate, manage and solve problems that arise for the first time, as innovation and management under uncertainty are key to assessing intelligence.[1]
In 2013, a group of researchers from Vienna University of Technology, Delft University of Technology and the University of Ljubljana, developed a smart city model, according to which a smart city is based on six areas:
- smart economy,
- smart mobility,
- smart governance,
- smart environment,
- smart people (smart social and human capital),
- smart living. [2]
From the perspective of the issue at hand, the most interesting one is smart mobility, which, according to the international website autopi.io, is defined as the use of alternative forms of transport instead of owning an internal combustion personal car and includes electric vehicles, car-sharing, public transport, walking, cycling and other modes of transport. The increase in traffic congestion and its associated side effects, such as pollution, fatal accidents and wasting citizens’ time, have prompted the need for smart mobility [3].
The basis of the smart mobility concept is therefore diverse, and one of its features is the implementation of car-sharing.
Car-sharing in Poland
Car-sharing is a modern system that allows users to use cars that they do not own. These vehicles usually belong to companies, cities or institutions, with the vast majority of car rental services being offered by private companies. Users have access to the cars for a set period of time, usually measured in minutes or hours. Fixed costs, such as insurance and depreciation, are shared between the users of a given car [4]. In the initial phases of the development of this system, vehicles were available in specially prepared car parks, from where interested service users would collect them and return them to one of the operator’s car parks after use. Nowadays, a much more popular solution is the creation of zones, sometimes covering entire cities, where users can start and finish their journey. In the case of larger operators, providing services in multiple agglomerations, it is often also possible to park the car in a different city than the one in which the vehicle was rented.
In 2015, more than 7 million people used car-sharing services worldwide. Projections suggest that by 2025, this number will rise to more than 36 million users, indicating a huge increase in the popularity of this modern car-sharing system [5]. This trend could represent a revolution in the personal transport services segment. Car-sharing, unlike a traditional taxi, does not require the payment of driver costs, as the user drives the vehicle himself. However, short-term car rental will not always work – not every person is licensed to drive. In addition, much of the transport market involves transporting people who have previously consumed alcohol, which rules out car-sharing for obvious reasons. Using the service itself is generally straightforward – all you need to do is register with the relevant service provider’s IT system, usually via a mobile app, upload your documents (including your driving licence), undergo verification and add a payment method.
The advantages of car-sharing are often raised in the public debate. During a speech in 2017, Ombudsman Adam Bodnar highlighted the positive impact of the development of this segment on the environment and traffic functioning, while pointing out that appropriate legal solutions should be put in place to address the challenges of the growing popularity of car-sharing [6].
Car-sharing in Polish law
The classification of the car-sharing contract in the legal system is important for determining the status of both parties to the obligation. According to the view of the doctrine, this type of contract generally fulfils the essential features of a ‘lease’ as typified in the Civil Code. According to Article 659 of the Civil Code. §1, “By a lease agreement, the lessor undertakes to give the lessee a thing to use for a definite or indefinite period of time, and the lessee undertakes to pay the lessor the agreed rent”[7]. In this case, the lessor gives the lessee the use of a passenger car for a specified period, usually dependent on the will of the customer concerned. The rent, on the other hand, will be a charge, calculated in accordance with the trader’s price list. Usually, appropriate rates per kilometre and per minute of parking are stipulated, although rental options for a specific number of hours or days are also on the market, irrespective of the distance travelled. According to Article 662 §1 of the Civil Code, “The lessor should deliver the thing to the lessee in a condition useful for the agreed use and maintain it in such a condition for the duration of the lease”. [7].
Diana Szwejser of the University of Wrocław commented on the issue of determining the moment at which the agreement is concluded, pointing out that a car-sharing agreement, like a rental agreement, is consensual in nature, and therefore comes into effect when each party makes a lawful declaration of intent. In this case, this consists of reserving one of the cars of the fleet, and the rental contract itself comes into effect when the user confirms in the online application the start of use, which will open the vehicle. It is incumbent on the driver to assess the technical condition of the vehicle before starting to drive. The rental generally ends when the driver parks in a designated zone and confirms the end of use on the mobile app” [8].
Due to the fact that the Civil Code does not strictly stipulate the form of the legal act of concluding a lease, a car-sharing agreement may be concluded in any form. As a rule, in the market, it is concluded in documentary form, by the hirer taking the appropriate action in the service provider’s application.
In this analysis, it is worth considering the responsibility of the vehicle user to return the item in the condition in which it was given to him. Pursuant to Article 675 of the Civil Code:
Ҥ 1. At the end of the lease, the lessee is obliged to return the thing in an undisturbed condition; however, he shall not be liable for the wear and tear of the thing resulting from its proper use.
§ (2) If the hirer has given the thing to another person for free use or for subletting, this obligation shall also be incumbent on that person.
§ 3. It shall be presumed that the thing was delivered to the hirer in a good and usable condition for the agreed use” [7].
It follows from the provisions cited above that, in the event of any objections or comments on the condition of the vehicle, the user of the system should notify the service provider immediately, before starting to drive. Otherwise, he/she may be exposed to evidentiary difficulties related to the rebuttal of the presumption established by Article 675 §3 of the Civil Code.
With regard to a possible handing over of a car rented by the user for use to a third party, Article 668 § 1 of the Civil Code will apply, “The lessee may hand over the rented thing in whole or in part to a third party for free use or for subletting, if the contract does not prohibit him/her from doing so. If the thing is handed over to a third party, both the lessee and the third party shall be liable to the lessor for the leased thing being used in accordance with the obligations under the lease agreement.” [7]. It is standard in the trade to make use of the option to contractually exclude the hirer’s right to hand over the vehicle to a third party, which is dictated by security considerations and the protection of possible claims by the service provider. Generally, due to the adhesion nature of such contracts, customers do not have the possibility to negotiate certain provisions in this respect.
The specific claims to which the individual parties to the contract in question are entitled may vary depending on how the parties have shaped the civil law relationship. Pursuant to Article 353 (1) of the Civil Code, “Parties entering into a contract may arrange the legal relationship at their own discretion, as long as its content or purpose do not contradict the properties (nature) of the relationship, the law or the principles of social co-existence”. In the system in question, we can also, within the limits of the law, flexibly regulate the legal relationship in accordance with the quoted principle of freedom of contract. However, it is worth remembering, as mentioned earlier, that car-sharing is of an adhesion nature, i.e. the consumer’s decision-making role is limited to deciding whether or not he or she wants to conclude a contract. Due to the economic advantage of the car rental company, the user does not have the possibility to negotiate the price of the ride or other provisions of the legal transaction.
AI in car-sharing – regulation at European Union level
The main solutions that are increasingly being used to complement car-sharing services are implementations of systems related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the broadest sense. Thanks to these mechanisms, autonomous cars have been introduced in some parts of the world and are included in the car-sharing model, providing flexible rental options for customers. As autonomous cars are driverless, civil and legal issues arise in relation to potential liability for damage caused by AI. Currently, at the level of European legislation, work is underway to normalise the above issues through the pending Directive on the adaptation of non-contractual civil liability rules to artificial intelligence (AI Liability Directive) [9]. The Community legislator’s use of this type of act, which – unlike regulations – is generally characterised by a lack of absolute validity for EU citizens, will allow Member States a certain degree of leeway in regulating civil liability for damages caused by AI. The law implementing the aforementioned act should be implemented relatively soon after the final enactment of the directive by the EU bodies, especially in view of the fact that the current norms have not kept up with technological advances in the AI sector.
14 June 2023. The European Parliament adopted a comprehensive proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence (Artificial Intelligence Act) and amending certain legislative acts of the Union [10]. As emphasised by representatives of the Panoptykon Foundation, which has been working against citizen surveillance for many years, “The Artificial Intelligence Act is the world’s first comprehensive regulation of artificial intelligence. The act regulates the obligations of companies and institutions creating (suppliers, importers) and implementing (users) AI systems and models. The areas of military, research and science are taken out from under the AI Act. The act adopts a risk-based logic: certain AI systems are to be banned, others are to be treated as high-risk and subjected to special legal and technical requirements (including a risk assessment of people’s fundamental rights). In the case of popular chatbots or so-called generative AI, an obligation is in turn introduced to inform people that they are dealing with an AI-generated ‘product’.”
The premise of the aforementioned regulation is the categorisation of AI systems into those posing a relatively low, medium or high risk of violation of privacy and data protection rights. The legislation introduces special criteria to be met by AI entrepreneurs, regulates audits and special control procedures, and sanctions breaches with correspondingly high penalties. The AI Act limits the ability of public authorities in the broad sense to use AI systems for law enforcement, which MEPs strongly advocated during their work in committees.
The introduction of the above regulations will certainly prove crucial for the development of the car-sharing segment of autonomous cars. It is worth noting that the basic standardisation of this sector appears in the current Polish legal system, e.g. the legislator regulated the definition of autonomous vehicles in Article 65k of the Road Traffic Law of 20 June 1997. Despite this, issues of civil liability for damage caused by an autonomous vehicle were not specifically regulated, leading to the need to use general provisions from the Civil Code, which were often not suitable for use in such specific technological conditions as cars without a physical driver.
Car-sharing, like other systems of renting a transport vehicle via a mobile application, is having a significant impact on shaping the market for personal transport services in Poland [11]. Undoubtedly, it is a decidedly innovative service that offers a viable alternative to the traditional way of getting around in the form of owning one’s own personal car. In many parts of the world, including Western Europe and North America, car-sharing has been operating for years, although in Poland the first companies only started around 2016 [12]. Car-sharing, as a system involving the sharing of passenger cars, is changing the reality on Polish roads. The solution in question is based on the sharing economy, which is about using things you do not own, exemplifying the global trend away from models based on personal ownership [13]. The expression of these trends goes beyond mere communication, as it extends to other products – series, films, books or video games. The recent growing popularity of services such as Netflix, HBO Max, Disney Plus, Chilli or Legimi seems to confirm this thesis [14]. The growth of the car-sharing segment, while causing concern in some industries, including taxi, could revolutionise the way we think about capital and ownership, contribute to air quality and improve traffic organisation.
REFERENCES:
[1] Komninos N., Intelligent Cities and Globalisationof Innovation Networks, London and New York, Routledge 2008
[2] Economic Problems of Services No. 4/2017 (129) ISSN: 1896-382X | www.wnus.edu.pl/epu DOI: 10.18276/epu.2017.129-14 | pages: 165-175
[3] https://www.autopi.io/blog/what-is-smart-mobility/
[4] https://mfiles.pl/pl/index.php/Car-sharing
[5] https://biznesalert.pl/carsharing-czyli-ekonomia-wspoldzielenia-w-praktyce-analiza/
[6] https://www.pb.pl/rpo-przepisy-blokuja-rozwoj-car-sharingu-902024
[7] Act of 23 April 1964 Civil Code (i.e. Journal of Laws 2022, item 1360, as amended).
[8]https://ruj.uj.edu.pl/xmlui/bitstream/handle/item/57640/szwejser_car-sharing_regulacje_prawne_i_perspektywy_rozwoju_2018.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
[9] Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the adaptation of the rules on non-contractual civil liability to artificial intelligence (Artificial Intelligence Liability Directive)
[10] Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence (Artificial Intelligence Act) and amending certain Union legislative acts.
[11] https://www.cire.pl/artykuly/elektromobilnosc-materialy-problemowe/car-sharing-w-polsce
[12]https://menadzerfloty.pl/w-magazynie/magazynie-rozwoj-car-sharingu-polsce/
[13] http://www.twojeinnowacje.pl/dlaczego-warto-wyprobowac-car-sharing
[14] https://ceo.com.pl/deloitte-rosnie-popularnosc-subskrypcji-46300
SOURCES:
– legal acts:
- Act of 23 April 1964 Civil Code (i.e. Journal of Laws 2022, item 1360, as amended).
- Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the adaptation of the rules on non-contractual civil liability to artificial intelligence (Artificial Intelligence Liability Directive).
- Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence (Artificial Intelligence Act) and amending certain Union legislative acts.
– other:
- Diana Szwejser – Car-sharing – legal regulations and development perspectives; ZESZYTY NAUKOWE TOWARZYSTWA DOKTORANTÓW UJ NAUKI SPOŁECZNE, NR 21 (2/2018), pp. 137-148 E-ISSN 2082-9213 | P-ISSN 2299-2383.
- Tkaczyk, Jolanta ; Awdziej, Marcin – Motivations and attitudes of consumers towards car-sharing service; Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wrocławiu = Research Papers of Wrocław University of Economics, 2017, No. 501, pp. 165-172.
- Ł. Frącczak, M. Matusiak-Frącczak, Civil liability for traffic accidents involving autonomous vehicles, PiP 2019, no. 11, pp. 114-124.
- Turoń, K., Kubik, A., and Czech, P. 2020. Exploitation of car-sharing systems. In D. Więcek and J. Rysiński, eds, Production technologies, processes and systems. 307-316.
- E. Kamińska – Prospects for the development of mobility models in terms of shared services, MaaS and autonomisation of road transport; 1/2021.
