Maven (car sharing)

Last updated
Maven
Industry Automotive service industry
Defunct2020
Headquarters
Detroit, Michigan
Areas served
 United States
Canada
Australia
Key people
Sigal Cordeiro, Vice President of Maven and GM Urban Mobility [1]
Services Car sharing
Peer-to-peer car sharing
Gig rentals
Parent General Motors

Maven was a car sharing service launched by General Motors (GM) in 2016. It provided services such as carsharing and peer-to-peer car sharing for personal use and also rented to drivers of gig economy professions such as Uber and Lyft. It operated in select cities in the United States, Canada and Australia until ceasing operations in 2020.

Contents

History

Maven was announced in January 2016 and has been referred to as the AirBnB for cars. [2] At the time of its launch, Maven's team consisted of 40 people. [3] The year prior, GM had purchased the assets of then defunct Sidecar after that company failed to gain ground on Lyft and Uber. [4]

Maven launched as a pilot program at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and expanded to other cities a few weeks later. [5] In August 2017, Maven was announced as the exclusive car sharing partner for the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. [6] Maven also launched Maven Gig, a rental service for people who work in the gig economy such as drivers of Uber, Lyft, and Uber Eats. [7]

By 2018, Maven had 190,000 members and expanded to major cities across the United States. [8] It had also entered the Australian market where it initially provided gig-economy rentals prior to adding personal car sharing services. [9] It operated in a total of 17 cities in North America as of May 2019. [10] Maven exited select cities in 2019 based on market analysis by GM, [11] and announced it would focus on cities with the strongest demand and growth. [10] Maven also partnered with EVgo in 2019 to provide fast charging stations for users of Maven electric vehicles. [12] On April 21, 2020, GM announced plans to shut down Maven. [13]

Services

Maven provided car sharing services, including car sharing for personal use and rentals for drivers of gig economy professions such as Uber and Lyft. It used an app for people to search for and book rentals. It is also used to control certain features of the car such as remote start and unlocking of doors. [10]

Unlike traditional rental car agencies, all Maven vehicles were connected by the General Motors-owned OnStar telematics service, which allowed borrowers to use the service to contact roadside assistance, receive directions to the vehicle's infotainment system, and perform remote services via the Maven app, such as unlocking, locking, and locating the vehicle on a map. Most vehicles also included complimentary SiriusXM Satellite Radio service.

Maven offered three main vehicle classes, consisting of Small Cars (such as the Chevrolet Spark, Chevrolet Sonic, Chevrolet Cruze, and Chevrolet Volt), Large Cars (such as the Buick Regal, Cadillac ATS, Chevrolet Impala, and Chevrolet Malibu), and SUV's (such as the Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Equinox, Chevrolet Tahoe, and Chevrolet Trax).

Maven also allowed individual owners of General Motors vehicles to share their cars by the hour or daily through a peer-to-peer car sharing service. [14] Owners received sixty percent of the rental cost and also received liability insurance. Vehicles had to be newer model GM vehicles and go through an on-boarding process which included installation of a keyless entry system. [14]

Maven Gig was launched in 2017 and rented vehicles to people who worked in the gig economy such as drivers of Uber, Lyft, and Uber Eats. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">General Motors</span> American multinational automotive company

General Motors Company (GM) is an American multinational automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing its four core automobile brands of Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac and Buick. By sales, it was the largest automaker in the United States in 2022, and was the largest in the world for 77 years before losing the top spot to Toyota in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hertz Global Holdings</span> American car rental company

Hertz Global Holdings, known as Hertz, is an American car rental company based in Estero, Florida. The company operates its namesake Hertz brand, along with the brands Dollar Rent A Car, Firefly Car Rental and Thrifty Car Rental.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SAIC-GM</span> Joint venture between General Motors and SAIC Motor

SAIC General Motors Corporation Limited is a joint venture between General Motors Company and SAIC Motor that manufactures and sells Chevrolet, Buick, and Cadillac brand automobiles in Mainland China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chevrolet Suburban</span> Series of American full-size automobiles by General Motors

The Chevrolet Suburban is a series of automobiles built by the Chevrolet division of General Motors. In production since the 1935 model year, the model line is currently in its twelfth generation; it is the longest-used automobile nameplate in the world. Beginning life as one of the first metal-bodied station wagons, the Suburban is the progenitor of modern full-size SUVs, combining a station wagon body with the chassis and powertrain of a pickup truck. Alongside its Advance Design, Task Force and C/K predecessors, the Silverado pickup trucks share chassis and mechanical commonality with the Suburban.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avis Car Rental</span> American car rental brand

Avis Car Rental, LLC is an American car rental company headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey. Along with Budget Rent a Car, Budget Truck Rental and Zipcar, Avis is a unit of Avis Budget Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyft</span> American ride-sharing company

Lyft, Inc. is an American company offering mobility as a service, ride-hailing, vehicles for hire, motorized scooters, a bicycle-sharing system, rental cars, and food delivery in the United States and select cities in Canada. Lyft sets fares, which vary using a dynamic pricing model based on local supply and demand at the time of the booking and are quoted to the customer in advance, and receives a commission from each booking. Lyft is the second-largest ridesharing company in the United States after Uber.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cadillac ELR</span> Motor vehicle

The Cadillac ELR was a two-door, four-passenger luxury plug-in hybrid compact coupé manufactured and marketed by Cadillac for model years (MY) 2014 and 2016 – with a hiatus for MY 2015. Using a retuned version of the Chevrolet Volt's Voltec EREV drivetrain, the ELR's lithium-ion battery pack delivered an all-electric range of 37–39 miles (60–63 km) and a top speed of 106 mph (171 km/h).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shared transport</span> Demand-driven vehicle-sharing arrangement

Shared transport or shared mobility is a transportation system where travelers share a vehicle either simultaneously as a group or over time as personal rental, and in the process share the cost of the journey, thus creating a hybrid between private vehicle use and mass or public transport. It is a transportation strategy that allows users to access transportation services on an as-needed basis. Shared mobility is an umbrella term that encompasses a variety of transportation modes including carsharing, Bicycle-sharing systems, ridesharing companies, carpools, and microtransit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turo (company)</span> American peer-to-peer car rental company

Turo is an American peer-to-peer carsharing company based in San Francisco, United States. The company allows private car owners to rent out their vehicles via an online and mobile interface in 4 countries.

Sidecar was a US-based vehicle for hire company that provided transportation and delivery services. It was founded in 2011 in San Francisco and closed on December 31, 2015.

The sharing economy is a socio-economic system whereby consumers share in the creation, production, distribution, trade and consumption of goods, and services. These systems take a variety of forms, often leveraging information technology and the Internet, particularly digital platforms, to facilitate the distribution, sharing and reuse of excess capacity in goods and services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ridesharing company</span> Online vehicle for hire service

A ridesharing company is a company that, via websites and mobile apps, matches passengers with drivers of vehicles for hire that, unlike taxis, cannot legally be hailed from the street.

The legality of ridesharing companies by jurisdiction varies; in some areas they are considered to be illegal taxi operations, while in other areas, they are subject to regulations that can include requirements for driver background checks, fares, caps on the number of drivers in an area, insurance, licensing, and minimum wage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">EVgo</span> Electric vehicle charging network in U.S.

EVgo is an electric vehicle DC fast charging station network in the United States, with more than 850 charging locations as of August 2022. The company's charge stations are located in 34 states and are compatible with all major auto manufacturers.

A robotaxi, also known as robo-taxi, self-driving taxi or driverless taxi, is an autonomous car operated for a ridesharing company.

Vehicle subscription is a service where a customer pays a recurring fee for the right to use one or more automotive vehicles. Some vehicle subscriptions offer insurance and maintenance as part of the subscription fee; other subscriptions allow the subscriber to switch between different vehicles during their subscription period. Industry commentators consider vehicle subscription to be an alternative to owning or leasing a vehicle.

A series of general strikes was coordinated on March 25, 2019 by Lyft and Uber drivers in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, California, United States led by rideshare advocate group Rideshare Drivers United. The strikes aimed to protest low wages, long hours, working conditions, and lack of benefits. The event was planned following Lyft's initial public offering. A second strike took place on May 8, 2019 in anticipation of Uber's initial public offering. The strike in response to Uber's IPO took place in 25 major cities across the United States, and were also joined by drivers in other locations worldwide where Uber operates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Android Automotive</span> Android operating system version for car infotainment systems

Android Automotive is a variation of Google's Android operating system, tailored for its use in vehicle dashboards. Introduced in March 2017, the platform was developed by Google and Intel, together with car manufacturers such as Volvo and Audi. The project aims to provide an operating system codebase for vehicle manufacturers to develop their own version of the operating system. Besides infotainment tasks, such as messaging, navigation and music playback, the operating system aims to handle vehicle-specific functions such as controlling the air conditioning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revel Transit</span> Electric moped sharing company

Revel is a dockless electric moped sharing startup based in New York City. Founded in 2018 by Frank Reig and Paul Suhey, it first started with a small pilot program in New York, later growing its fleet size in New York and expanding into Washington, D.C., Miami, and San Francisco. Having pulled out of Washington and Miami in 2022, Revel announced in November 2023 that it would end operation of its mopeds and focus on its electric-vehicle taxi service and its vehicle charging stations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">General Motors BEV2 platform</span> Electric vehicle platform

The GM BEV2 platform is an automotive platform made by General Motors designed specifically for small electric vehicles. Multiple divisions of the LG Corporation have been instrumental in construction in addition to GM's contributions to the platform.

References

  1. ↑ Wayland, Michael. "GM appoints marketing veteran to lead Maven". Automotive News.
  2. ↑ Hawkins, Andrew J. (24 July 2018). "General Motors wants its customers to rent their cars to other people". The Verge.
  3. ↑ Hawkins, Andrew J. (21 January 2016). "GM launches Maven, a car-sharing service to compete with Zipcar". The Verge.
  4. ↑ Read, Richard (21 January 2016). "GM Launches Maven Car-Sharing Service, Buys Remains Of Uber Competitor, Sidecar". The Washington Post.
  5. ↑ Muller, David (21 January 2016). "GM launches Maven car-sharing service in Ann Arbor, other cities to come". MLive.
  6. ↑ "GM's Maven will provide cars to students at USC". freep.com. August 11, 2017. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
  7. 1 2 "GM's Maven Gig Expands Ride-Sharing Reach". August 11, 2017. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
  8. ↑ Naughton, Nora (30 December 2018). "Maven car-sharing creates 'side hustle' for Metro Detroit dad". The Detroit News.
  9. ↑ Dowling, Joshua (26 May 2019). "Cars on demand to replace vehicle ownership for a new generation of drivers". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  10. 1 2 3 Korosec, Kirsten (20 May 2019). "GM's car-sharing service Maven to exit eight cities". TechCrunch.
  11. ↑ Colias, Mike (20 May 2019). "GM Scales Back Maven Car-Sharing Business". The Wall Street Journal.
  12. ↑ Edelstein, Stephen (12 April 2018). "Maven and EVgo Partner on Electric Car Charging for Ride-Hailing Drivers". The Drive.
  13. ↑ O'Kane, Sean (21 April 2020). "GM shuts down car-sharing service Maven". The Verge.
  14. 1 2 O'Kane, Sean (23 October 2018). "GM is letting more people rent their cars for money". The Verge.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.