Google is expanding its Waze carpooling service to California

Google is expanding its Waze carpooling service to California
Google is expanding its Waze carpooling service to California
Author

03 June, 2017

Waze, the auto navigation app owned by Google, announced on Wednesday it will expand its carpooling services to all California cities starting June 6. However, this expansion will be available only to date in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to Reuters.

Waze Carpool riders are charged a maximum rate of 54 cents per mile, which covers the cost of gas and some maintenance for the auto.

As the name suggests, Waze Carpool is akin to more traditional carpooling than being a direct taxi replacement.

So now, when riders hail a ride from a driver going a particular way, they will be liable to share the total cost of the ride at a federal mileage rate of $.54 per mile.

Through a separate carpool app or its main app, a user can find a driver commuting back home or to work in the same general direction.

Waze now takes no cut of the transaction but will eventually take a commission "when the quality of the service is high enough to warrant this", Fried said. It connects drivers and riders with similar destinations, so they can commute together, resulting in fewer cars on the road (something Angelenos likely won't mind a bit). The company did not provide data regarding the commuters' usage during its testing period in both areas. California has the highest number of Waze users which makes it an ideal location to launch its ride service.

The system is supposed to work correctly as long as people wake up in time and leave their houses when the app says they should. It's now experimenting with another commute-hour option called Shuttle that makes designated stops on routes in two test markets - San Francisco and Chicago.

Uber and Lyft may have a hold on the carpool market, but Waze is aiming to gain an edge.

Because there is no commission fee for now, Waze Carpool drivers will not need to pay for commercial auto insurance, nor will they need any background checks.

© 2017 Associated Press under contract with NewsEdge/Acquire Media. But how about all the other cars that are more than a year old? This makes some drivers uneasy about safety.


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