Zipcar Inc., the Cambridge-based vehicle-sharing service that enables members to rent cars by the hour, said Wednesday that it is partnering with the City of Houston in an effort to gain efficiencies for Houston’s fleet of city-owned vehicles.

The plan is for 50 existing city-owned vehicles to be equipped with Zipcar’s proprietary fleet-sharing technology, the company said in a press release.

By deploying this technology, as well as implementing Zipcar’s self-service online reservation and secure vehicle access system, “the program is expected to help the city gain new efficiencies, improve utilization, and reduce costs while further reducing the environmental impacts of their fleet,’’ Zipcar said.


The technology will help the city to design and configure its fleet footprint in real time for optimal utilization; manage preventive maintenance, fueling, billing, and fleet distribution; and capture usage data from every trip, the company said.

Zipcar said its fleet-sharing technology is also being used by city programs in Washington, D.C.; Chicago; and Boston.