Troy’s Magna Begins Testing Ridesharing Program for Metro Detroit Employees

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The global automotive supplier Magna International Inc., with its North American headquarters in Troy, today announced it will offer the Detroit-based ridesharing platform SPLT to its nearly 2,000 employees across metro Detroit.

“Ridesharing is certainly a trend that we are learning more about and, by teaming up with SPLT, we can get a better understanding of that market and collect data on consumer mobility needs,” says Swamy Kotagiri, CTO of Magna.

Kotagiri says SPLT’s app-based platform allows co-workers commuting from similar areas to find one another and share the ride to and from work using their own vehicles. He says employees enter their schedules and address on the app, and then they are automatically matched with co-workers using SPLT’s ride matching algorithm.

“Magna understood SPLT’s value proposition from day one,” says Anya Babbitt, CEO and founder of SPLT. “Magna has helped us design SPLT to fill a crucial need in the corporate commuting space. It’s not every day that corporate executives extend their wisdom to startups, but Magna is not typical by any means.”

SPLT is a 2015 Techstars Mobility company, of which Magna was a co-sponsor. Babbitt says Magna mentored SPLT through the Techstars program and helped shape the app to meet corporate needs.

Techstars Mobility in Detroit offers mentorship and training programs to up to 12 startups. Other companies involved with the program include Verizon, Honda, and McDonald’s, among others.