General Motors Co. on Thursday launched Maven, a car-sharing service that works much like Zipcar. In fact, the GM team behind Maven includes employees that once worked for other ride- and car-sharing players like Google, Sidecar and Zipcar.

Maven is launching in Ann Arbor, Michigan first and will serve 100,000 residents with an initial focus on faculty and students at the University of Michigan, but GM says it will expand to other, yet to be named, U.S. cities in the coming months. GM cars – Chevy Volt, Spark, Malibu and Tahoe models – will be available at 21 parking spots around the city and can be rented for as little as $6 per hour, including insurance and fuel. Unlike Zipcar, Maven users won’t pay a monthly membership fee.

GM aims to differentiate Maven from competitors by offering a “highly personalized” experience. Like Sidecar, users can search for and reserve a vehicle by location or model but Maven goes a step further. Using a dedicated Maven app, users can unlock the car, start it, and turn the heating or air conditioning on up to eight minutes before their reservation starts.

Users can also sync their smartphones with their Maven car using Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, and the vehicles all feature OnStar, SiriusXM satellite radio and 4GLTE wireless connectivity. Users in Ann Arbor will also be able to provide feedback to Maven team members via WhatsApp to help improve the service.

Consolidating car-sharing services

During the first quarter of 2016, Maven will roll out a residential car-sharing service in Chicago, and in New York City, Let’s Drive NYC, GM’s on-demand vehicle program launched last year, will be expanded under the Maven brand.

GM’s peer-to-peer car-sharing service, currently serving around 10,000 users in Germany, will be brought under the Maven brand while programs running at company campuses in the U.S., Germany and China will be used to test future Maven offerings.

GM going all-in on car- and ride-sharing services

GM earlier this month announced that it would invest $500 million in ride-sharing service Lyft Inc., an investment that would in part be used to develop a fleet of autonomous Lyft cars. Also, this week GM bought failed ride-sharing service Sidecar, a Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft competitor, for parts with Sidecar employees now working on Maven.

Image via GM