General Motors has announced its plans of launching a peer-to-peer car rental through Maven, the company’s car sharing app. The customers can rent their own cars through the app at their own rental price while GM will provide insurance.

United States: General Motors announced its plans of launching a peer-to-peer car rental service to allow owners to make money by listing them as shared vehicles. The US auto giant said GM car owners would be able to list their vehicles on Maven, its car-sharing service in which the company offers hourly or daily rentals.

GM's new service will be entering the sharing economy and competing with peer-to-peer rivals like Getaround and Turo, which enable car owners to rent their cars using online platforms.

The idea is to let GM’s customers put their cars into Maven’s fleet using its app just like Airbnb Inc. enables people to rent out their homes. Maven rents cars out for hours or days at a time the same way Zipcar does. If the new business model works Maven will get more cars to rent out without carrying assets on its books while GM’s customers have a way to make some extra cash.

For GM, the main aim is to establish new ways to sell transportation as consumers increasingly use ride-hailing services provided by Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. Maven already rents vehicles to drivers who work for those companies. The automaker’s Cruise unit is developing self-driving cars to use as robo-taxis starting next year.

The new service is launching immediately in Chicago, Detroit and Ann Arbor Michigan with additional US markets in the coming months. It will be integrated into Maven, the smartphone app rental service launched by GM in 2016 which has some 150,000 members.

The website that GM has currently set up is hinting that car owners will be able to set their own rental price, with GM providing insurance, satellite tracking via OnStar and keyless access. The owners will likely be able to save 60 percent of the rental fees.

The company believes peer-to-peer plan will help Maven grow. The GM unit has expanded its user base to almost 18 times since last year, to 160,000 users across 17 different cities, 118,000 of who rent cars by the hour and 42,000 who drive for Uber, Lyft or a delivery service.

According to TechSci Research, the new peer-to-peer car sharing service by GM motors is expected to be the future of mobility on demand services, while also driving the mobility on demand market. The mobility-on demand market is expected to witness robust growth in the coming years because of increasing demand for alternate transportation means to curb the air pollution levels across the globe as well as to provide better transportation services through a reliable and fast mobile platform. people prominently prefer e-hailing cabs and are adopting the car sharing services as they offer a convenient mode of transport. E-hailing cabs are widely popular across the globe, and Uber, Gett and Lyft are some of the key players in global e-hailing cab industry. Globally, people are inclining towards car sharing as it helps in reducing the traffic and is a cost-effective alternative.

According to the recently published report by TechSci Research, “Global Mobility on Demand Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2022”, Global mobility on demand market is expected to cross $ 228 billion by 2022, on account of growing traffic congestions, continuous initiatives being taken by several vehicles manufacturing players and increasing inclination of consumers. Asia-Pacific region accounted for the largest share in global mobility on demand market in 2016; and China and Japan registered more than half of the demand for mobility on demand services in the region in the same year. Moreover, the region is anticipated to maintain its dominance in global mobility on demand market during the forecast period as well.

According to the recently published report by TechSci Research, “Global Ride Hailing Market, By Vehicle Type (Passenger Cars, etc.), By Service Type (E-hailing, etc.), By Internet Connectivity (3G, etc.), By Vehicle Connectivity (V2V, V2I, etc.), By Company and By Geography, Forecast & Opportunities, 2017-2023”, Global ride hailing market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 21% to reach $136 billion by 2023, on the back of growing popularity of ride hailing services as well as the service providers such as Uber, Didi and Lyft. Moreover, surging demand for ride hailing services on a global level can be attributed to ease of booking, enhanced passenger comfort, increasing traffic congestion, rising government initiatives aimed at increasing awareness regarding the harmful effects of air pollution levels and development of semi-autonomous and autonomous vehicles. Increasing number of partnerships between domestic and international service providers, such as Uber and Didi in China, are also expected to aid the global ride hailing market during the forecast period.

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