>It seems Google is willing to wait a little longer to fulfill CEO Eric Schmidt’s dream of cars that drive themselves.
Google Ventures has instead invested an undisclosed sum into RelayRides, a car-sharing service similar to Zipcar, to help it launch in San Francisco today. August Capital also took part in the company’s first round of fundraising.
It’s a service that lets anyone list their car on the web site for rental like other city-based car-sharing services. The car owner sets the price, which is usually around 10 percent less than other car sharing services, and what time of the week the car will be available for rental, said RelayRides CEO Shelby Clark. The owner then gets 65 percent of the total rental fee, and RelayRides takes a 15 percent cut. The other 20 percent goes toward a pretty sizable insurance policy — just in case someone crashes your car into a wall.