Photo: Screenshot from Waze website
The Mountain View tech giant, Google, acquired a company named Waze a few years ago, and it has done more than just help people navigate.
Currently, Waze, which operates independently from Google Maps, but in a similar manner, is expanding a function that could lead to fewer rides for Uber and Lyft.
The cool part about the new carpool feature is that it would be an actual ride-sharing app, because it will not enable you to drive enough people to make a profit out of it. The limit is set at two rides per day, one to work, and one towards your home.
Evidently, Waze is not the first app in the world that would connect a driver and a passenger who have the same destination, or a route that links both parties in a suitable manner. Through the latter, we are referring to the elimination of any detours, along with the impossibility of commercial use of the app.
However, Waze’s presence in the ride-sharing department is Google’s way of testing the market before it releases its range of autonomous cars, and it also helps people.
The helping part brings more users to Waze, and those people end up seeing more advertising. That leads to Google getting the big bucks out of this one, because there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
Riders will pay a nominal rate directly to drivers (it is all done online, no cash is required), and Waze or Google do not get anything out of the entire deal, for now. In the future, a 15% of the fare’s value might be charged for the company to support the operation of the service.
As The Next Web notes, the upper limit for Waze Carpool is $0.54 per mile, the federal mileage rate. That applies to American cities, but it may be different in other markets.
San Francisco’s Bay Area was the first place where this was available in the U.S., but it is reportedly undergoing an expansion to other zones in America.
Among the first cities that might receive Waze Carpool is Sao Paolo, according to media speculation that was started after its mayor met up with Waze CEO Noam Bardin.
The cool part about the new carpool feature is that it would be an actual ride-sharing app, because it will not enable you to drive enough people to make a profit out of it. The limit is set at two rides per day, one to work, and one towards your home.
Evidently, Waze is not the first app in the world that would connect a driver and a passenger who have the same destination, or a route that links both parties in a suitable manner. Through the latter, we are referring to the elimination of any detours, along with the impossibility of commercial use of the app.
However, Waze’s presence in the ride-sharing department is Google’s way of testing the market before it releases its range of autonomous cars, and it also helps people.
The helping part brings more users to Waze, and those people end up seeing more advertising. That leads to Google getting the big bucks out of this one, because there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
Riders will pay a nominal rate directly to drivers (it is all done online, no cash is required), and Waze or Google do not get anything out of the entire deal, for now. In the future, a 15% of the fare’s value might be charged for the company to support the operation of the service.
As The Next Web notes, the upper limit for Waze Carpool is $0.54 per mile, the federal mileage rate. That applies to American cities, but it may be different in other markets.
San Francisco’s Bay Area was the first place where this was available in the U.S., but it is reportedly undergoing an expansion to other zones in America.
Among the first cities that might receive Waze Carpool is Sao Paolo, according to media speculation that was started after its mayor met up with Waze CEO Noam Bardin.
Google News