Car-sharing service Turo is prepared to take a major step forward in the service's usability. The company announced on Tuesday that it will roll out Turo Go, which will let users unlock cars through their smartphones.
Turo Go makes the entire car-sharing process easier by eliminating the need for the renter and the rentee to meet. With Turo Go, the guest can simply book a car and gain access to it with just a smartphone. Owners will enable the function by plugging a dongle into their cars' OBD ports, and they will be be able to track mileage, locate the rented car, and lock and unlock the vehicle. Turo said the added functions will improve safety as well, and give users greater peace of mind.
Turo Go will roll out this fall.
The company has continued to expand its clientele with six million users and access in 5,500 cities in more than 56 countries.
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With its sights set on future growth, Turo also announced it's been in talks with a handful of automakers to make future cars "Turo ready." Turo and an automaker could agree to install the connected-car technology during production to make the car instantly ready for Turo Go's functions. The car-sharing company named Mercedes-Benz as one automaker interested in the idea.
Mercedes-Benz commented on the possibility and said it will continue to work with Turo "to support owners of Mercedes-Benz vehicles to easily share their cars."
Turo is certainly the largest player in the car-sharing space, but a report from last month pegged General Motors as interested in jumping in the game. The automaker could be preparing an AirBnB-style service for owners of GM vehicles to rent them out when they're not in use.