GM’s Maven Could Position Itself to Become Full-Fledged Rideshare

Maven, the mobility unit owned and operated by General Motors Co., is reportedly considering building out the platform to include on-demand ridesharing in the style of Uber or Lyft.

With the possibility of adding an on-demand rideshare element to Maven, the platform would consist of a full spectrum of mobility options including hourly and weekly rentals, car sharing, and ridesharing.

Maven began in 2016 focusing on car sharing and has since added Maven Gig. Through Gig, Maven can provide GM vehicles directly to ride-sharing drivers who may otherwise lease them from another manufacturer through Lyft Express Drive and Uber Xchange Leasing. In addition, Maven has partnered with on-demand delivery services GrubHub, Instacart Roadie, and HopSkipDrive, an on-demand ride share service aimed at children of working parents, according to a published report.

Maven has already begun to pull away from Lyft — for which GM holds a 9% stake — with its own Gig leasing business, according to a published report. Through Gig, Maven can provide GM vehicles directly to ride-sharing drivers who may otherwise lease them from another manufacturer through Lyft Express Drive or Uber Xchange Leasing.

“We are building this out step by step,” Julia Steyn, vice president of Maven, said in the report. Maven has grown significantly in the past 18 months by introducing Maven Gig and expanding to Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco and other cities. Its fleet of nearly 10,000 vehicles has accumulated 170 million miles and provided 17.5 million rides to Lyft and Uber customers, according to the report.

“Maven has no additional products or future plans to announce at this time,” a Maven spokesman told Auto Finance News.

If Maven did announce that it is looking into on-demand ridesharing, it would face some large questions about its business operations, such as whether GM would continue to funnel its off-lease vehicles to Maven and provide leases to Lyft and Uber; whether drivers would have to use a GM vehicle, and if so, whether there would be a leasing program the way Uber has with Xchange Leasing. Additionally, if drivers used GM vehicles, it is unknown if they would be able to use their vehicles on other ridesharing platforms.

Maven began as a carshare service and is serving as a “test bed” to determine General Motors Financial Co.’s role as the market continues to shift away from traditional car ownership, Rachel Bhattacharya, General Motors Co.’s director of commercial mobility and AV fleet operations, previously told Auto Finance News.