Skip to main content

General Motors and Toyota are rolling into the car-sharing space

GM and Toyota are upping their games with car-sharing ventures, hedging their bets against a future when individual car ownership may be less common. General Motors is expanding Maven, a car-sharing service the company is already running in seven other U.S. cities, to Los Angeles, according to Fast Company. Meanwhile, Toyota’s venture fund Mirai Creation Investment Limited Partnership has invested in San Francisco-based private owner car-sharing startup Getaround, reports Reuters. Carmakers are branching out into car-sharing to cover all bases for future mobility services.

GM’s Maven leases new Chevrolet, Cadillac, and GMC vehicles for $6 to $8 per hour, which includes insurance, fuel, and unlimited 4G data. GM views Maven as a way to give potential customers test drives in the newest models, which it typically loads with options. Current Maven selections include Chevrolet Cruze, Malibu, Tahoe, and Volt, GMC Acadia and Yukon, and several Cadillac models. GM states that more than 11,000 Maven members have driven more than 23 million miles with over 12,000 reservations since the service started earlier this year. Lyft drivers can also rent Maven vehicles by the hour. In addition to L.A., Maven is also available in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, New York, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Washington, D.C.

Recommended Videos

Getaround, which claims more than 200,000 members, currently operates in the California cities of San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland, as well as Portland, Oregon; Chicago, and Washington, D.C. Getaround is a gig economy venture in which private owners share their vehicles. Getaround suggests that car owners can earn up to $10,000 per year by renting their cars. Drivers can rent cars by the hour or day, with insurance included. Owners are protected with a $1 million insurance policy per rental, according to Getaround. According to Reuters, Toyota has invested $10 million in Getaround. Toyota also works with Uber with leases for Uber drivers.

Going forward, more carmakers are likely to join GM, Toyota, and other companies such as Daimler, and BMW with car-sharing ventures. Tesla recently introduced the concept of the Tesla Network, a self-driving car-sharing service that will launch once fully autonomous cars are legal. Different companies are experimenting with a range of car-sharing strategies as they prepare for the future.

Bruce Brown
Bruce Brown Contributing Editor   As a Contributing Editor to the Auto teams at Digital Trends and TheManual.com, Bruce…
2022 Toyota Tundra hybrid first drive review: New dog, old tricks
2022 toyota tundra i force max hybrid review front three quarter

Toyota has done more than any other automaker to popularize hybrid cars. Japan’s largest automaker may not have been the first to bring a hybrid to the United States (that was Honda), but the Toyota Prius made the idea stick -- and it didn't end there. Over the last decade, Toyota built on the popularity of the Prius, adding hybrid powertrains to nearly every type of vehicle.

One of the most glaring gaps in Toyota’s hybrid lineup has been pickup trucks, in part because Toyota hasn’t bothered to give its Tundra pickup a full redesign since the 2007 model year. In the meantime, Ford beat Toyota off the line with its 2021 F-150 PowerBoost hybrid. For the 2022 model year, Toyota aims to make up lost ground with the Tundra i-Force Max hybrid.

Read more
2023 Toyota Sequoia supersizes hybrid tech
The 2023 Toyota Sequoia towing an Airstream trailer.

If you want to appreciate how far automotive technology has come in the past decade and a half, take a look at the Toyota Sequoia.

Toyota's full-size SUV was last redesigned for the 2007 model year, and today it feels as ancient as the giant trees it's named for. The Sequoia predates the proliferation of infotainment and driver-assist tech, and when it was designed, the only way to provide sufficient grunt was to stick a gas-guzzling V8 under the hood. Times have changed, and now, finally, so has the Sequoia.

Read more
General Motors enters the used car game with CarBravo
A 2019 Chevrolet Volt on the road.

General Motors on Wednesday announced an online used-car sales platform called CarBravo. Scheduled to launch this spring, GM says it will offer a transparent and streamlined buying experience.

CarBravo will pull from dealership inventories and a "national central stock" of used vehicles that will include non-GM models, according to a company press release. All vehicles will be "inspected and reconditioned to meet standards set by GM," according to the automaker, and will get some form of warranty coverage. SiriusXM satellite radio and OnStar telematics trials will also be available in applicable vehicles.

Read more