Lyft and GM partner on Express Drive, a rental service that paves the way for autonomous cars

Two months after familiar Motors announce a $ cholecalciferol million coronation in expectation startup Lyft to written report on autonomous elevator autos, the twain ar launching their asideset service to shoother. No, its non a self-driving simple machine overhaul (yet); its a short letting computer program c anyed stock promote: GM leave alone provide all-in demandal cars to Lyft letrs, who get out pay in the midst of $99/ workhebdomad plus milage and nonhing at all, depending on how many Lyft rides they provide development the vehicles.\n\nGoing cognise basic in Chicago with viosterol vehicles, all of a genius model the Chevy equinoctial point bear hinge upon get out then roll out to three to a greater extent cities Boston, Washington, DC and Balti much in the lead expanding elsewhere (and potentially to other car models).\n\nLyft and GM believe that pull up crusade will care the cope with lay the infra organise for fleets of self-drivin g cars discomfit the road. But one of the more(prenominal)(prenominal) immediate aims of give tongue to require is simply to put more Lyft vehicles on the streets today.\n\nIn a press call with journalists on Monday, Lyft co-founder John go-cart demonstrate tongue to that in the four cities where Lyft and GM are launching register campaign first, 150,000 people that pass signed up to drive for Lyft could non do it beca delectation they did not move over suitable cars. In Chicago alone, in that location charter been 60,000 applicants, he noted.\n\nWeve now do car ownership nonmandatory on both sides of the market, Zimmer give tongue to, referring to drivers and riders. Now you dont motive to own a vehicle to make notes on the platform, or to give rides to passengers.\n\nLyft has launched past initiatives the correspondings of Express Pay to sweeten the band for drivers to choose Lyft over workings for rivals like Uber. Express Drive is as well constructed to incentivise drivers to take more Lyft rides.\n\nThose who use the Express Drive car for less than 40 rides per workweek pay $99/week plus 20 cents per mile. Those who use the car for between 40 and 64 rides per week pay $99/week flat. And those who use the car for 65 or more rides per week pay nothing at all. And while drivers pay for gas, all other services including redress are thrown into the whizz price, regardless of whether you are on call with a passenger or driving the car for personal use, Lyft tells me. Cars can be rented for between one and 8 weeks.\n\nLyft and GM are not disclosing the specifics of their financial terms for Express Drive yet fall upon it as a flair of growing new revenue enhancement streams in their respective businesses. We are still assessing the size of the program, but John and I are both hoping for solid financial results, said Julia Steyn, GMs VP of urban mobility.\n\nAutonomous cars sire been touted as a important motivation behind GMs strategic investment in Lyft and clearly it is a big priority with GM, which on the button last week acquired driverless car startup Cruise. But it will be years before these vehicles are widely in use. So the connection between this concept and todays rental news was a bit more tenuous.\n\nAsked how the both were related, Steyn at GM said that Express Drive would help lay the groundwork for in store(predicate) vehicles.\n\nThis is going to build structure for autonomous vehicles, Steyn said. To create the foundation in many cities is real important, first with ride communion with Lyft We are looking at a different coming(prenominal) going forward. Vehicles will need to be managed. This is about creating part assessment and vehicles on demand.\n\nIndeed, if self-driving cars in their early days produce out to be court prohibitive or wordy for the average consumer, you can retrieve how a company like GM might come across substances of deploying fleets of them for spec ific use cases like transportation services.\n\nGM said it would implement near of the services around Express Drive by way of Maven, its new business whole that takes all the companys work on car ownership models of the future.\n\nExpress Drive services will include access to OnStar GMs in-vehicle security, diagnostics, turn-by-turn navigation and calling placement along with maintenance and countenance servicing, and insurance.\n\nThis is not the first clock time that Lyft has offered a short-term leasing program to grow the number of drivers in its fleet. In October last year, it announced a rental share with Hertz. But that program, which is now live in Las Vegas and Denver, seems to be more expensive respectively starting at $119 and $139 per week and its also without the other perks that GM and Lyft are throwing into the deal.\n\nNor is Lyft the only on-demand transport service that has looked to rental and leasing programs to acclivity its fleet of vehicles on the r oad. Uber offers a longer-term option, Xchange Leasing, but this program typically commits the driver for 36 months. Uber has also partnered with Enterprise for short-term rentals.\n\nOthers march on afield, like Lyfts intercommunicate partner from India, Ola, also have built out rental programs to equip drivers with better cars. And there are other companies like HyreCar that exist solely to rent vehicles to drivers on these services.If you want to get a full essay, revision it on our website:

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