The popular Israeli navigation app Waze is launching a pilot carpooling program in Israel.
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In theory, it should learn which routes people most frequently take to get to or from work and pair them up with other users who tend to favor the same routes.
Google acquired Waze, which is based in Israel and uses satellite signals from the smartphones of members to offer traffic information in real time.
Google struck a deal to buy Waze in 2013 in a deal worth over $1 billion.
The application will limit the number of journeys to just 2 per day for each driver.
“We’re doing a modest, privately used early assessment in the more effective Tel Aviv place for a carpool principle, however i don’t have anything further to declare at the moment”, Waze explained Reuters of the incursion straight into the ever increasingly highly competitive area of ride-sharing.
Should the company eventually roll out RideWith globally, this limitation could help avoid the huge backlash that Uber has been facing in many countries that want the professional taxi driver protected.
Waze believes that there will not be enough drivers available to meet the demand to start.
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After the initial trial period, improvements and adaptations will be made so that the project can be launched in cities in other countries, as said by Haaretz. To be introduced in Israel, commuters will pay fellow drivers a small fee for a ride to and from work.
