Maven is more than the car-sharing arm of General Motors. The two-year-old brand has become a laboratory for many of the company?s projects in the burgeoning mobility realm, and the latest one is poised to arrive this summer. Maven will launch a service that encourages car owners to rent their vehicles while they?re not in use, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the development on Tuesday. The GM brand would host a platform that enables this peer-to-peer rental while keeping a slice of the revenue for itself. Essentially, it’s Airbnb for a set of wheels.
A GM spokesperson would not confirm those plans Tuesday but said, ?We are always considering new, innovative ways to make sharing easier.?
Although not official, such a peer-to-peer rental platform would align with the brand?s aggressive pursuit of a certain set of new customers: city dwellers disinclined to own vehicles. Such a strategy represents a pivot for the automaker, but its embrace of that path has been clear. Last month, when Maven expanded to Toronto, General Motors said, ?Thanks to Maven, car ownership in Toronto is no longer necessary.?
This would be the latest in a string of projects rolled out under the Maven banner. Created in 2016, Maven began strictly as a car-sharing service that allows customers to borrow a range of GM vehicles at hourly rates in select U.S. cities. In May 2016, it expanded to include Maven Gig, a program that offers freelance drivers weekly rates that can include insu...