GM Joins Sharing Economy
General Motors announced that its OnStar subscribers can now rent out their idle vehicles through the RelayRides car sharing service, which is the first third-party developer to integrate with GM OnStar’s proprietary application program interface (API).
OnStar is available in Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac models.
GM said owners of OnStar-enabled GM vehicles will not have to install aftermarket hardware or meet a renter to hand off keys as is the situation with some car sharing services. Renters can unlock reserved OnStar-enabled cars by using their smart phones.
Relay Rides provides all vehicle owners with a $1 million insurance policy for owners for the duration of the rental and a $300,000 policy for renters.
RelayRides says participants can earn “hundreds of dollars per month” from their idle vehicles.
RelayRides pioneered peer-to-peer car sharing when it launched in Boston in June 2010. RelayRides has gone national and raised $13 million in venture capital funding from Google Ventures, August Capital, Shasta Ventures and General Motors Ventures.
GM also said it will make the API available to other developers later this summer.
- No NOAA Large-Disaster Data to Hurt Insurers’ Grasp of Secondary Perils, Says AM Best
- Central US Severe Weather Outbreak Caused Billions in Damages, AccuWeather Says
- Hack of Contractor Was at Root of Massive Federal Data Breach
- State Farm VP Apologizes to Homeowner While Allstate Gets Grilled at Senate Hearing