Google will expand its fledgling Waze Carpool service across Silicon Valley, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The platform, launched as a trial in May this year, will become available to all Waze users in the San Francisco area this autumn, the WSJ’s sources say. If successful Google will seek to open up the service further afield.
Google’s is pitching the Carpool platform for those heading in the same direction, rather than a direct taxi replacement a la Uber and Lyft.
The Waze tool is also far less expensive than its rivals charging a high of only $0.54 per mile.
Related: Would you ride in a driverless Uber?
While Lyft and Uber do offer pooling services, these are still operated by a driver essentially acting as a cabbie.
The expansion will mean anyone in the Bay area will be able to sign on to drive or ride with the service.
Google purchased Waze from its Israeli founders in 2013 and currently has about 65 million users on the books.
The community sourced mapping app relies on users to help each other out by reporting delays, speed cameras, police presence, accidents and more.
That same community would be responsible for preventing bad drivers using the ride-sharing element, rather than driver vetting, according to the WSJ report.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
