Maven (car sharing)

Maven
Subsidiary of General Motors
Industry Automobile sharing services
Predecessor Sidecar
Founded 2016[1]
Headquarters Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Area served
 Denver, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Ann Arbor, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Orlando, Jersey City, Baltimore, Toronto
Key people
 Julia Steyn, CEO
Products Automobile sharing services
Number of employees
 40[2]
Parent General Motors
Website maven.com

Maven is a carsharing service announced by General Motors in January 2016. The program also includes Google and Sidecar employees.

History

Maven was announced in January 2016 following GM's acquisition of select assets and employees from Sidecar,[1] along with the company's $500M investment in car sharing service Lyft. SideCar had closed in 2015 after failing to gain ground on larger rivals Lyft and Uber. At the time of its launch, Maven's team consisted of 40 people. The head of the group was GM Vice President Julia Steyn, GM's head of urban mobility, who had previously been GM's vice president of corporate development and global mergers and acquisitions.[2]

Ann Arbor trial

The January 2016 introduction also included an announcement of a pilot program at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. The company reported plans to make several Chevrolet vehicles available, including the Volt, Spark, Malibu, and Tahoe, through a Maven branded app. Wired Magazine reported that the initial program would be free to join, and gas and insurance would be included for around $6 an hour.[3]

University of Southern California Campus Car Sharing

In August 2017, Maven was announced as the exclusive car sharing partner for the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Maven will have up to 18 vehicles on campus that can be rented for about $5 per hour using the mobile app, a discounted rate. The cars can be used for personal transportation, or for side work as ride-hailing drivers or for food delivery.[4]

Services

Maven offers several different services as a part of their car sharing program broken down into Maven City, Maven Gig, Maven Home and Maven Reserve.

Maven Home

Maven home is a car sharing service built for specific residential communities that provides members with 24/7 access to cars parked right inside of their building.[5]

Maven Gig

Maven has a specific service that is intended for people that are doing gig economy type jobs, but don't have a vehicle of their own. Currently the reservation is set at twenty-eight days (35 days in California) to apply to drive for any rideshare, food, package, or grocery delivery platform, according to multiple news reports released on the program. Maven Gig has arrangements with Grubhub, Instacart, Roadie, and HopSkipDrive. Weekly rates include unlimited mileage, insurance (less the deductible), and maintenance. Available cars that can be included are vehicles like the Chevrolet Cruze, Impala, Malibu, Trax, and Bolt EV. Maven Gig is currently available in San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Phoenix, Boston, Washington D.C., Melbourne Australia, Sydney Australia, Adelaide Australia, and Brisbane Australia. The program will soon expand to Baltimore, Detroit, according to news reports.[6]

Electric-only Service

Maven launched its first all-electric fleet in a community with 20 Bolts in Austin, Texas in March 2018.

Maven Reserve

Car sharing for customers who need a rental car from 7 to 28 days, according to the Maven website. The program is available in Ann Arbor, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Toronto.

References

  1. 1 2 "GM Unveils Maven, Its Big New Play In Car-Sharing Services". techcrunch.com. January 20, 2016. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Meet the Woman Behind the Wheel of GM's New Car-Sharing Business". fortune.com. 2016-01-26. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  3. ↑ "Maven, GM's Car-Sharing Scheme, Is Really About a Driverless Future". Wired.com. January 21, 2016. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
  4. ↑ "GM's Maven will provide cars to students at USC". freep.com. August 11, 2017. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
  5. ↑ "GM's Maven offers ways to drive out of town — or make deliveries — without owning a car". January 27, 2018. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
  6. ↑ "GM's Maven Gig Expands Ride-Sharing Reach". August 11, 2017. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
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