The company launched RideWith, a new app and carpooling program in Tel Aviv.
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Starting Monday, at rush hour in parts of Israel, Google’s Waze navigation app will help carpoolers find one another. In addition to it, the number of trips per driver is limited to just two per day for commuting from home to workplace and the return trip. Google’s service though, will offer a uniform platform based on the Waze app, enabling employees of a given company to share rides among themselves. Instead, Waze crowdsources its information by using satellite technology to track users’ phones as they travel, providing real time information about traffic flows. It has long been rumored that Google to be launching a ride-hailing service, but it was expected to involve autonomous cars. If a Waze driver accepts the request, they pick up at the rider – whose Global Positioning System location is provided via the app – and together carpool to their destination. The alert will be sent only to relevant drivers, whose route is known on Waze to overlap with the passenger’s. Said carpooling program will reportedly be called RideWith and will allow customers to pay other drivers a fee for a ride to and from their job. The service is available for users in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Julie Mossler, a spokesperson for Waze, tells WIRED, “We are conducting a small, private beta test in Tel Aviv for a carpool concept”.
This setup doesn’t make room for the sort of flexibility that Uber provides, but it also means Google will dodge the tricky hurdles that come with alternate taxi services.
About two years ago Google spent $1 billion to acquire what was arguably the most popular navigation app on Android, Waze. Google will ascertain, using the sides’ email addresses, that these are people who work in the same geographical area.
Waze is cautiously optimistic about the startup’s long-term success, but does not expect enough drivers to meet initial demand.
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” “Waze it” has replaced “Google it” as a shorthand for getting driving instructions”. Uber and Lyft turn auto owners into essentially taxi drivers: they hit the road to ferry people around for money.
