common Motors Embraces the long run With automotive-Sharing service Maven

Maven, the brand new umbrella brand for basic Motors’s car-sharing efforts, points to a future during which automotive possession is not the norm.

with the aid of John Paul Titlow

January 21, 2016

it can be respectable: Transportation is changing endlessly. this may occasionally sound like a no-brainer if you happen to follow the tech industry, however it’s now not just highly valued experience-sharing startups and search giants who are singing that tune. it can be old-faculty Detroit, too.

normal Motors is launching a Zipcar-fashion automobile-sharing service called Maven, the corporate introduced these days. Maven will house the entire firm’s automotive-sharing initiatives, together with a new program set to debut in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and an existing pilot application in big apple with the intention to amplify to Chicago.

general Motors says Maven will “provide clients access to extremely personalized, on-demand mobility products and services.” photograph: John F. Martin for general Motors

Like Uber and its competitors, the growth of automobile-sharing services and products points to a future by which full-fledged car possession will transform less and no more and customary. a number of weeks into the new yr, general Motors has already made a couple of investments towards that future: the corporate lately sank $500 million into Uber competitor Lyft and, prior this week, snatched up the remains of defunct journey-sharing service Sidecar.

The Maven fleet will feature linked automobile know-how that enables customers to personalize their expertise, in addition to a WhatsApp chat integration for customer service. automotive leases will begin at $6 per hour.

[by way of TechCrunch]

[Photo:John F. Martin for General Motors]