Published

Waze Expands Carpool App Across U.S.

Alphabet Inc.’s Waze unit is expanding the availability of its Carpool service across the U.S.
#electronics

Share

Alphabet Inc.’s Waze unit is expanding the availability of its Carpool service across the U.S.

Waze began testing the system, which connects independent drivers of personal vehicles with potential passengers headed in the same direction, California and Israel two years ago. Availability was later expanded to 12 other states and Brazil.

Drivers can turn on the feature within the current Waze app on their smartphone. Riders must download a new Waze Carpool app.

 

Drivers and riders can select each other based on route, user ratings, gender, common friends and place of employment or school (verified by company/college email addresses). Waze says it has inked deals with several universities and employers, including Amazon, to help facilitate carpooling among co-workers.

Users can create customizable groups to connect with previous ride-sharing companions. Commuters also can schedule rides for as much as a week in advance.

During the first month, riders will be charged a flat fee of $2. Thereafter, they will pay 54 cents per mile, with drivers getting a portion of the fee. All payments will be handled by Waze.

The new app will compete against rival Lyft Line and Uber Pool services, as well as other carpooling apps such as Scoop and Carpool Buddy.

Waze drivers will be limited to two carpools per day. This puts the focus on carpooling—reducing traffic congestion and costs—rather than being a money-making scheme for drivers, Waze says.

About 1.3 million drivers and passengers have signed up for Waze’s carpooling service, the company says. About 110 million people worldwide, including 30 million Americans, use Waze’s primary navigation and traffic information service.

RELATED CONTENT

  • Autoline After Hours: The 2020 Cadillac XT6

    Cadillac currently has three non-car vehicles in its lineup, the imposing and possibly venerable Escalade, the XT5, which started its existence as the SRX and is now crushing it in the market, and the most recent, the compact XT4, which is in a sweet spot for those looking to get into the premium portion of the market.

  • Chevy Develops eCOPO Camaro: The Fast and the Electric

    The notion that electric vehicles were the sort of thing that well-meaning professors who wear tweed jackets with elbow patches drove in order to help save the environment was pretty much annihilated when Tesla added the Ludicrous+ mode to the Model S which propelled the vehicle from 0 to 60 mph in less than 3 seconds.

  • What the VW ID. BUGGY Indicates

    Volkswagen will be presenting a concept, the ID. BUGGY, a contemporary take on a dune buggy, based on the MEB electric platform that the company will be using for a wide array of production vehicles, at the International Geneva Motor Show.

Gardner Business Media - Strategic Business Solutions