Lyft will bring car rental service to Baltimore

Proving that disruption doesn’t completely wipe out all of the old ways of doing business, Lyft is set to get into the car rental game.

The first program resulting from General Motors’ $500 million investment in Lyft allows the ridesharing company’s drivers to rent cars by the week. The new service, Express Drive, is set to start in Chicago, and will expand to other cities including Baltimore and D.C. later this year. The date of the Baltimore launch and details of the program are still being worked out, said a spokesman.
In Chicago, Lyft said 60,000 people applied to drive, but their cars didn’t meet company standards. So Lyft is making a fleet of 500 Chevy Equinoxes available for the drivers to rent, equipped with OnStar. The program costs $99 per week (plus mileage) initially, but it’s free if the driver hits 65 rides in a week.
The introduction of the program in Baltimore indicates Lyft could be responding to a new push to get drivers in the city by Uber.
But this may be more about a long game that doesn’t include people behind the wheel. The central focus of the GM-Lyft deal is believed to be the development of driverless cars. Getting more drivers and cars on the road through the rental program is a way to “build structure for autonomous vehicles,” GM VP of Urban Mobility Julie Steyn told TechCrunch.