General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) is reportedly planning to launch its own “Airbnb for cars” service this summer.
According to the recent reports, GM is planning to do this through its Maven platform. This platform already allows users to rent out cars from the company to drive when they need them. The launch this summer will simply be a test of the new service.
The change to Maven will allow owners of vehicles to list them on the car-sharing service. By doing this, customers can take in extra income and GM doesn’t have to worry about providing all of the cars for the service.
The idea behind these car-sharing services is that they target customers that may not own cars. These users will still need cars from time to time and can rent them for short periods. The idea is still new, but seems to be catching on.
We know that one goal of these services is to eventually offer them with autonomous vehicles. This includes plans from Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) for just such a setup and GM is also testing its own self-driving vehicles that could work with the system, reports Bloomberg.
GM isn’t the only company that is planning to focus on self-driving cars and sharing them. Uber has been working toward its own self-driving cars as a way to improve its taxi service. This could allow the company to cut out drivers and increase profits.
GM stock was up 1% as of noon Tuesday.
As of this writing, William White did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
