GM Car-sharing Maven Service

© Paul Sancya/AP Photo​

GM announces new shared-ride service called Maven - Losing no time after deals involving Lyft and Sidecar, General Motors announced Thursday that it will create a new car-sharing service called Maven.

The unit has already been given 40 employees and will operate a test project in Ann Arbor, Mich, about an hour's drive from its Detroit headquarters. Ann Arbor is home to the University of Michigan, where it is expected to find interested customers among students and faculty members.

“With the launch of our car-sharing service through Maven, the strategic alliance with ride-sharing company Lyft, and building on our decades of leadership in vehicle connectivity through OnStar, we are uniquely positioned to provide the personalized mobility services our customers expect today and in the future,” said GM President Dan Ammann.

Additional city-based programs will launch in major U.S. metropolitan areas later this year.

Many automakers, including GM, have launched ride-sharing pilot projects in selected cities, but GM has raised its profile in recent weeks with a $500-million investment in Lyft, that nation's second largest provider of on-demand ride-sharing after Uber.

On Tuesday, GM said it has acquired some assets and will hire employees from Sidecar, a defunct San Francisco-based ride-sharing service that halted operations at the end of 2015.

The assets include a license to patents awarded and pending, with Sidecar retaining ownership of the patents, existing technology and software codes, along with the hiring of 22 employees, said Margaret Ryan, a Sidecar spokesperson.

GM and Lyft will open rental hubs where drivers can rent GM vehicles. That could expand Lyft's business by giving people who don't own cars a way to earn money by becoming Lyft drivers even though they don't own a car.

Lyft drivers currently use their own vehicles to drive customers utilizing the Lyft mobile app.

GM will gain access to Lyft's customer data, which could be valuable in communicating new services or even offer those customers the chance to lease or buy their own vehicles. Over the long term, the companies plan to develop a fleet of autonomous vehicles that can be summoned with Lyft's software.

Ann Arbor Maven users will have access to Maven personnel via the WhatsApp messaging software to share experiences, ideas and suggestions for improving the service.