Predecessor Sidecar | Founded 2016 | |
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Type Subsidiary of General Motors Industry Automobile sharing services Headquarters Detroit, Michigan, U.S. Area served Denver, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Ann Arbor, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Orlando, Jersey City | ||
Maven is a carsharing service announced by General Motors in January 2016. The program also includes Google and Sidecar employees.
Contents
History
Maven was announced in January 2016 following GM's acquisition of select assets and employees from Sidecar, 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.
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.