14 DAY TRIAL // Back in May, Google launched a pilot program at its headquarters in California, which allowed people to use Waze app in order to get a ride to work. The program connected thousands of workers at specific firms and helped commuters find rides easily.
Now, Google intends to open the program to all Waze users from San Francisco starting this fall, according to The Wall Street Journal. Uber and Lyft currently operate as on-demand taxi services while Waze intends to connect riders with drivers who are already heading in the same direction.
The report states that Waze plans to impose low fares so that drivers wouldn't operate as taxi drivers. Apparently, Waze's current program charges riders at 54 cents per mile while Google doesn't take fees for now. Google acquired Waze back in 2013. With this pilot program, Google would definitely enter Uber turf, with the latter being a company that's valued at $68 billion and that's known to provide on-demand services as alternatives to traditional taxis.
Google's ride-sharing service will be limited to 25,000 employees in San Francisco
Google will allow any Waze user to sign up to become a rider or a driver in the area, but it seems that the service will be limited to the 25,000 employees of certain San Francisco firms, including Google, Walmart, and Adobe. The service will be exclusively related to work commuting, since riders are limited to two rides per day, to and from work.
Google will also rely on user reviews to rate drivers and riders, as well as to remove the ones that have bad reviews. The service is quite similar to what Waze offers in Israel, where the ride-sharing business has grown lately.
The report also mentions that Google intends to use the Waze ride-sharing service in order to test its driverless cars. With this move, Google aims to capitalize on Waze's popularity and positive reputation among drivers, especially since the service has about 65 million active users.