Users can speak or type requests to find and reserve vehicles

Service compares round-trip, one-way, delivery and monthly subscription options

Coupon balances factored in to recommend best value

AI now covers both vehicle operations and reservations

A screen from the Lotte Rental G car app showing the G car AI Booking feature, which recommends available vehicles after users enter their desired location, time and vehicle type by voice or text. [Lotte Rental]
A screen from the Lotte Rental G car app showing the G car AI Booking feature, which recommends available vehicles after users enter their desired location, time and vehicle type by voice or text. [Lotte Rental]

"I want to rent a car for a day near Gangnam on Friday."

That kind of plain-language request is now all it takes to book a vehicle through Lotte Rental's G car. Users type or speak their preferences — location, time, vehicle type — and an AI finds available options and walks them through the reservation, replacing the old process of manually searching a map for nearby lots and comparing vehicles one by one.

Lotte Rental, through its car-sharing subsidiary Greencar, announced Thursday the launch of G car AI Booking, a conversational AI reservation service for its G car platform.

Users enter their desired location, time and vehicle type as a sentence or by voice in the G car app. The AI analyzes the request and presents about three vehicles that match the conditions.

Selecting one of the recommended vehicles proceeds directly to booking. If none of the suggestions appeal, users can continue the conversation — asking, for example, to "show me something cheaper" — to prompt a fresh search.

Under the previous car-sharing model, customers had to check nearby rental locations on a map and compare vehicle types and availability separately. G car said the AI handles that process automatically, making it easier for first-time users to find the vehicle they want.

The service goes beyond simple vehicle search. Depending on the user's conditions, it simultaneously compares standard round-trip rentals, one-way service, "Oda" — a delivery option that brings the vehicle to a chosen location — and G car M, a monthly subscription product.

Any coupons a customer holds are factored into the calculation. The AI advises whether paying per use or subscribing monthly would be more cost-effective given the user's situation. It can also answer questions about key policies and frequently asked topics related to vehicle use.

G car said the service is the first commercially deployed conversational AI booking system in South Korea's car-sharing industry.

AI is being applied beyond reservations to vehicle operations as well. G car currently uses AI to assess the cleanliness and condition of its fleet, automatically handling more than 88 percent of car-wash status checks and damage inspections before staff conduct a final review.

The booking service will continue to improve as it accumulates real usage data, with the company planning to analyze which conditions customers search under and which recommendations they select to refine answers and recommendation accuracy over time.

The AI chat interface also features a dedicated character called G-ni, which displays five expressions — neutral, happy, suggesting, thinking and apologetic — depending on the stage of the interaction. The company said promotional elements such as character descriptions and design features will be applied only to the extent that they do not interfere with usability.

Kang Hyeon-bin, chief executive of Greencar, said the service was designed with a focus on helping customers find and use the vehicle they want more easily and quickly, rather than showcasing the technology itself. "We will continue to develop features that make the mobility experience more convenient for customers, building on AI technology," he said.

G car launched its car-sharing service in 2011 and rebranded from Greencar to Lotte Rental G car in September 2024. It has about 5.34 million cumulative members and operates roughly 7,500 vehicles across approximately 2,500 rental locations nationwide.


kwater@heraldcorp.com