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GM's Maven car-sharing service is shutting down
GM is shuttering its Maven service after COVID-19 and a general decline forced the automaker's hand.
GM dramatically scales back its Maven car-sharing service
GM's car-sharing program, Maven, is leaving eight out of the 17 cities it serves across North America, according to The Wall Street Journal. Maven never quite made it big and only ever became available in a handful of locations -- in fact, while WSJ mentions 17, the service's list of cities only has 12 entries. It sounds like instead of expanding to more locations, the automaker decided to focus on its strongest areas instead. A spokesperson told the WSJ: "We're shifting Maven's offerings to concentrate on markets in which we have the strongest current demand and growth potential."
How Google's scandals gave rise to the tech labor movement
2018 proved to be a momentous year for employee activism at some of the world's biggest tech companies. Google, Amazon and Microsoft all found themselves under fire from their staffs over a variety of social and policy issues. Silicon Valley's rank-and-file workers have made their voices heard and have started to bring about tangible changes within their firms, on everything from preventing sexual harassment and cooperation with law enforcement to surveillance technology and user data. 2019 looks to be more of the same.
NASA puts a key satellite in place for its Mars 2020 mission
NASA is preparing for the Mars 2020 mission by bringing the MAVEN probe, which will act as its antenna and connection to Earth, closer to the red planet. Over the next few months, the spacecraft will fly closer and closer to Mars until it's only 2,800 miles above the surface, down 1,050 miles from its current orbit. That will boost the probe's communications capabilities: As MAVEN principal investigator Bruce Jakosky explained, "It's like using your cell phone. The closer you are to a cell tower, the stronger your signal."
GM's Maven program will rent Teslas and Fords in 2019
Earlier this year, GM officially launched a program called Maven that gives people a way to earn extra money by renting out their cars. It's only open to Chevrolet-, Buick-, GMC- and Cadillac-branded vehicles, though -- in other words, cars from GM's auto brands. According to TechCrunch, though, the automaker plans to expand the peer-to-peer car-sharing program's reach and open it to vehicles from its competitors. GM Urban Mobility and Maven VP Julia Steyn has announced at the UBS Global Technology Conference that Maven will start accepting rival vehicles to the platform by mid-2019.
GM brings its peer-to-peer car-sharing service to 10 US cities
Earlier this year, GM unveiled a peer-to-peer car-sharing service, expanding its Maven platform to allow GM owners and qualified lessees to rent out their own vehicles. At the time, the company said the service was in beta in Chicago, Detroit and Ann Arbor, Michigan, but GM has now announced that it's bringing the peer-to-peer car-sharing service to 10 US cities in the coming months. By the end of the year, the service will be fully launched in Ann Arbor, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Jersey City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, DC.
Illinois governor vetoes bill that would stifle car sharing
Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner has vetoed a bill that stood to damage peer-to-peer car sharing companies like Turo, GetAround and Maven. The bill was passed by the state legislature in May and would have applied the same state and local taxes big rental companies like Avis or Hertz have to pay to the individuals that rent out their vehicles on the car sharing platforms. Those include a five percent tax as well as local taxes of up to 20 percent. While the bill didn't initially include such stipulations, Ars Technica reports that industry lobbyists pushed for the changes late in the process.
GM's new car-sharing program allows owners to rent their vehicles
Earlier this year, there were rumors that GM was going to launch a car sharing service, allowing GM owners to rent out their personal vehicles to make some quick cash. Now, the company has confirmed it. GM is expanding Maven and will allow both owners and qualified lessees to rent out their vehicles.
Can Google keep its promises on building ethical AI?
Google's collaboration with the Department of Defense to develop AI system's for the US military's fleet of war drones, dubbed Project Maven, proved a double-edged sword for the technology company. On one hand, the DoD contract was quite lucrative, worth as much as $250 million annually.
Google employees reportedly quit over military drone AI project
Around a dozen Google employees have quit over the company's involvement in an artificial intelligence drone program for the Pentagon called Project Maven, Gizmodo reported today. Meanwhile, nearly 4,000 workers have now demanded an end to the company's participation in Maven in a petition that also calls for Google to avoid military work in the future.
GM expands Maven Gig into Austin with all-electric rental fleet
General Motors' Zipcar-style service Maven is expanding into Austin, Texas with its first all-electric fleet. From today, Austinites who want to get their side hustle on will have access to one of 20 Chevrolet Bolt EVs, which they can use to provide rideshares or package and food deliveries, as a freelancer in the ever-growing gig economy.
GM is renting cars to Uber drivers in Australia
GM is expanding the presence of its Zipcar-style service Maven in Australia. The company has begun testing Maven Gig in Sydney through a pilot program with Uber a few months after it started trialing the main Maven service in Melbourne. Unlike the primary service itself that offers the general public vehicles for rent, Maven Gig was designed to rent out GM cars to people doing freelance gigs, such as driving for ride-hailing companies and package, food or grocery delivery. For now, the automaker is focusing on entering leasing agreements with those who'd like to make money on the side driving for Uber.
GM has a rental car service for Uber and Lyft drivers
Maven, General Motors' Zipcar-style service, is expanding to grease the wheels of the despair-inducing gig economy. Maven Gig lets you rent a vehicle for, say, a week at a time, specifically as a way of making money on the "freelance mobility economy." Specifically, if you pay $229, you'll take control of a Chevy Bolt for a week so you can live your dream of working for Uber, Lyft, Instacart, Rodie and GrubHub.
NASA prevents probe's collision with Martian moon Phobos
NASA's MAVEN spacecraft and Phobos would have arrived at an intersection in their orbits within seven seconds of each other on March 6th. Phobos is the larger of the two Martian moons, and MAVEN would most likely crash into it if the space agency left it on its own. Thankfully, the mission's scientists have been keeping a close eye on all the celestial bodies that cross the spacecraft's path. They were able to predict the scenario in advance and were able to perform the spacecraft's first collision avoidance maneuver to prevent the disaster from happening.
GM's Maven lets you rent cars for up to 28 days
Maven is General Motors' Zipcar-style vehicle rental service, letting you pay an hourly rate to temporarily borrow a ride. But the company is now targeting folks who want to get around for longer periods at a time with Maven Reserve. The offering enables people to reserve a car for up to 28 days at a time, including a dedicated parking space, insurance and $100 of gas in the tank. In addition, users will apparently receive a "personalized walk-through of the vehicle," as they take delivery of their fancy-schmancy rental car.
GM's car sharing service offers more EVs by teaming with cities
The city of Los Angeles is no stranger to embracing EVs and now its teaming up with GM's car-sharing service to make those vehicles more readily available. Maven announced today that it's partnering with cities to expand sustainable driving options and the initiative is kicking off in LA. Once the project fully up to speed, over 100 Chevy Bolt EVs will be available in the city.
Maven offers free birth control prescriptions via digital doctors
Two days after Donald Trump was elected to be the next president of the United States, searches for the term "IUD" rose more than four times across the country, according to Google Trends. Searches for "Planned Parenthood" and "birth control" similarly spiked as women in the US began preparing for an uncertain future. After all, Donald Trump and his running-mate, Mike Pence, have spoken out against protections for women's reproductive rights and against the Affordable Care Act, which requires insurers to cover intrauterine devices and other forms of contraception. With a Republican Congress, there's a path for Trump to repeal the ACA outright. In response to these concerns, Maven, a New York-based startup that received $2.2 million in funding last year, is offering free digital appointments with a women's health practitioner now through the end of the year. These appointments include a prescription for birth control and information about IUDs.
GM's car-sharing program links Uber drivers to weekly rentals
While we mostly think of GM's Maven program as just a ZipCar-like car sharing service, it's more generally an option for "flexible" access to vehicles. That's why Maven is a part of Lyft's Express Drive program that offers up short term rentals for drivers, and today it announced a partnership with Uber. Launching with a 90 day pilot in San Francisco, it lets Uber drivers lease a Chevrolet Cruze, Malibu or Trax for $179 per week (plus fees) with no mileage limit, and insurance is included.
GM's car-sharing service arrives in Los Angeles
Maven, General Motors' car-sharing service, is finally coming to the City of Angels. Though Maven has been around in other cities for awhile now -- Ann, Arbor, Mich., Boston, New York City and San Francisco to name a few -- its move to Los Angeles is a pretty interesting one due to the city's car-centric culture. Essentially GM's answer to services like CityCarShare and ZipCar, Maven makes it possible for residents of Los Angeles to live a car-free life, but still have the convenience of a car if they want it.
GM's 'Maven' car-sharing service lands in San Francisco
There's a new option for getting around the streets of San Francisco. GM has announced the immediate availability of its car-sharing platform Maven in the City by the Bay. The automaker -- which has a substantial $500 million investment in Lyft -- will continue to expand the service to other metropolitan areas as it dives deeper into alternatives to individual vehicle ownership.
