Wednesday, October 12, 2011 GM Enters Carsharing Business
 General Motors and RelayRides, the world’s first peer-to-peer carsharing marketplace, announced an exclusive relationship that will allow millions of GM vehicle owners to leverage the OnStar system to rent out their idle cars through the RelayRides marketplace.
The program, which will launch in early 2012, is GM’s first large-scale involvement in carsharing and is aimed at making it easier for those without a vehicle to access temporary and affordable transportation in a Chevrolet, Buick, GMC or Cadillac.
RelayRides allows vehicle owners to choose to rent out their idle vehicles, with the owner controlling the rates and availability of the car. RelayRides provides an online marketplace and a $1 million insurance policy to make the transaction safe and convenient.
RelayRides will leverage OnStar technology through a mobile application to allow customers to check for available vehicles, make an online reservation, as well as check future reservations, locate their reserved vehicle via GPS and lock and unlock the vehicle, all through their smart phone.
Founded in June 2010, RelayRides is currently available in San Francisco and Boston, and plans to strategically expand to U.S. areas that demonstrate high consumer demand.
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