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Alphabet ( GOOGL )-owned Waze is taking on ride-booking app Uber with a new carpool service in Silicon Valley to “reduce cars on the road and greenify your daily commute,” less than two years after Uber launched its own car-sharing function. Waze Carpool is in beta testing with specific Bay Area employers after a soft launch in Israel last July. The app matches riders with drivers based on their home and work addresses, and like Uber, it arranges payment ahead of time. Uber launched uberPOOL in September 2014 and has since expanded that service to 11 cities globally, including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Beijing and Shanghai. Uber estimates 100,000 people use uberPOOL every week. But Waze downloads significantly outnumber Uber downloads, according to Google Play, which put the estimated installations at 100,000-500,000, and 50,000-100,000, respectively. Waze is a popular traffic-navigation app which smartphone owners can use to try to avoid traffic jams and find the fastest routes, though it’s sparked controversy by spurring increased traffic in some residential areas not used to handling many cars. Neither Uber nor Google responded to a request for comment Monday. Waze Carpool was unveiled Monday in a YouTube video from Waze Labs. The video emphasizes the cost, time and ecological benefits of carpooling. “Just by pitching in for gas, riders get a comfortable and affordable ride,” Google Waze says. “And drivers cover their gas costs just by helping someone on the way.” Drivers must be 21, but riders can be 18. The pilot program was developed to meet the needs of congested Silicon Valley, Google Waze says in its release. Rides are only available during commuting hours. Google and parent Alphabet are based in the central Silicon Valley city of Mountain View, Calif. “We’re focused on reducing traffic when it’s at its worst — which is rush hour — so Carpool is restricted to morning and evening commute hours,” the release said, with Waze suggesting users request a ride a day in advance. In afternoon trading on the stock market today , Google stock was up 1%, near 732, but shares are down 6% this year. Scalper1 News
Scalper1 News