Lyft teams up with GM on car-rental program to recruit new drivers - CNET

Ride-hailing service Lyft will rent cars to perspective drivers whose vehicles are not up to snuff as part of a program with General Motors that aims to lure new drivers.

Called Express Drive, the short-term program will rent GM cars to Lyft drivers for $99 a week for up to eight weeks. Under the program, which is launching this month in Chicago, drivers who log at least 65 rides in a week get their rental for free.

"Launching Express Drive is another way we treat drivers better, in addition to Power Driver Bonus, tips and same day payouts," Lyft co-founder and President John Simmer said in a statement. "We're making sure everyone who wants to be a Lyft driver can be, by providing ultimate flexibility at incredible rates."

The rental program is the first initiative to be announced by the two companies since GM said in January it would invest $500 million in the San Francisco-based ride-hailing service in an effort to develop driverless, on-demand vehicles. A few weeks later, GM paid an undisclosed sum to acquire the technology and other assets from now-failed ride-hailing service Sidecar to bolster its relationship with Lyft.

Lyft, which pairs passengers with drivers via a smartphone app, currently operates in 150 cities in the US and provides more than 1 million rides per week. It's small compared with rival Uber, which is in 60 countries around the world.