Google's Waze Carpool News, Update: Ride-Sharing Service to Expand to More U.S. Cities This Year
Uber and Lyft will soon face competition as another company joins the growing ride-sharing market. Google's Waze recently announced plans to expand its Carpool service in several cities in the United States and Latin America over the next few months.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal earlier this week, Waze CEO Noam Bardin confirmed the company's plans for expansion. The Carpool service will be available in more cities after ongoing pilot testing in Israel and the San Francisco Bay Area concludes.
While Waze Carpool may be competing with Uber and Lyft, the service actually operates in a different way. Using the crowdsourced navigation app, commuters will be able to pick up passengers who are going to the same destination.
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According to the official website, the Carpool service will use advanced mapping capabilities to match riders and drivers who travel identical routes based on the location of their homes and workplaces. Drivers and riders will be able to use the service two times each day — the first going to work and other one going home.
Also, unlike UberPOOL, Waze Carpool will be cheaper as riders will just have to pay for gas. Currently, the service charges $0.54 per mile.
However, before Waze Carpool reaches the same level as Uber and Lyft, the ride-sharing service will first have to refine its system. According to initial results, it usually takes hours to arrange rides and some customers who are interested using the service often have a difficult time getting their requests approved by the drivers.
As a form of incentive, if Waze's Carpool service catches on, the company could institute an additional 15 percent fee for riders.
At this time, there's no information yet on the list of cities that will be included in Waze Carpool's expansion. However, Bardin did hint that the service could come to Sao Paulo, Brazil.
