GM's Car-Sharing Service Hits Million-Mile Milestone

CARS.COM — It’s a million miles for Maven. Just four months after its limited launch in Ann Arbor, Mich., GM’s new car-sharing service already has racked up 1 million driver miles and expanded to 5,000 customers in New York and Chicago, with Boston and Washington, D.C., to follow by summer, the automaker announced.

Related: GM Launches New Car Sharing Service Maven

The smartphone-based service competes with Zipcar and Enterprise CarShare. The Maven app allows users to reserve a vehicle by location and car type, and with their phone unlock the doors, and start the engine and climate control remotely. Customers can access vehicle functions eight minutes before their reservation starts, then simply return the car to the same place it was picked up with at least a quarter-tank of gas and hit “end” in the app to complete the session. Insurance and fuel are included in the cost of service.

The Chicago operation is now up and running. The Maven City program starts at $8 an hour and currently has 30 Chevrolet, Cadillac and Buick vehicles at 15 sites. Chicago customers also have the exclusive option of having their cars personally delivered to them by on-demand valet service Zirx. The Chicago Express Drive short-term rental program is also available in the Windy City, allowing those interested in driving for the Lyft ride-sharing program to rent GM cars through Maven without incurring the costs of car ownership.

The Chicago market also offers the Maven Plus service, which is an exclusive version of the program available to residential customers at specific sites. Here in the city of Cars.com’s headquarters, that site is the luxury high-rise building Aqua — where Lady Gaga has been known to rest her head when in town with boyfriend Taylor Kinney of the locally based “Chicago Fire” TV show (so there’s that).

Maven City and Maven Plus both will be available to qualifying D.C. residents by the end of June, GM stated. Both Maven services will follow in Boston by summer.