This article was published on May 16, 2016

Google has released Waze Carpool in San Francisco to help ease traffic at peak times


Google has released Waze Carpool in San Francisco to help ease traffic at peak times

Waze is opening up a carpooling service in San Francisco, 10 months after launching the service in Tel Aviv.

Domestically, it’s called ‘Waze Carpool’ (it’s ‘RideWith’ in Tel Aviv) and requires a separate app. For now, Waze Carpool is “invite-only to a select group of employers and their commuters in the Bay Area.”

It’s a lot like Uber or Lyft’s carpooling features, except your driver is also headed to work. Waze Carpool simply tries to match your commute with someone in a similar route — which is likely why it’s carefully allowing businesses to use it.

Waze Carpool is also limited to two rides per day, and restricted to heavy traffic times (morning and early evening). It matches riders to drivers one-way, so it’s not a group matching service for coworkers.

Riders can pay drivers, but Waze cautions it’s meant for “covering costs, not generating an income.”

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