GM Plans Airbnb-Like Car Share Program: Report

DETROIT, MI – U.S. automotive giant General Motors is reportedly tooling with a new model: Getting into the car-share business. Bloomberg News reports that GM has plans to expand its Maven car-sharing unit to allow car owners to list their personal vehicles for other drivers to use, similar to the way Airbnb users rent their homes to guests.

GM, according to the report, will start the initiative as a pilot program this summer. If successful, the automaker would roll out a widespread version of the program.

GM's current car-share program, Maven, utilizes vehicles owned by GM and rented to drivers for short-term use. Maven is similar to the car-share program Zipcar. The new model would allow GM access to more vehicles across a broader market, without having to carry such a large inventory, according to the report.

The idea of car-sharing is not new, reports Bloomberg. GM would be going up against more-established competitors Turo and Getaround, which are both startups but have established user bases and have investors. But, as Bloomberg points out, GM is a massive carmakers with resources to redefine this model.

Bloomberg also notes challenges for the car-sharing model. Similar to the protests made against Airbnb by hotels and bed-and-breakfasts, as well as taxi drivers against Uber and Lyft, car rental companies complain that car owners who rent their vehicles get an unfair tax break.

>>> Read the full article in Bloomberg

Photo: The all-electric Chevrolet Bolt EV is shown on stage after it won the Car of the Year Award at the 2017 North American International Auto Show on January 9, 2017 in Detroit, Michigan. Approximately 5000 journalists from around the world and nearly 800,000 people are expected to attend the NAIAS between January 8th and January 22nd to see the more than 750 vehicles and numerous interactive displays. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)