A carpooling feature in the Waze app, tested in the San Francisco Bay Area and Israel, will soon be available around the country.
"Google-owned Waze announced [last week] that it plans to expand its carpool service to all 50 states, directly competing with ride-sharing services like Lyft and Uber," reports Kif Leswing.
According to Leswing, "the Waze Carpool app will enable users to find rides from Waze drivers that are headed in the same direction, not unlike Lyft Line and Uber Pool, the startups' respective carpooling features."
There are a few key differences between Waze's new feature and the model provided by Uber and Lyft: namely that Waze "are regular people with day jobs," not professional drivers (nevermind that all Uber and Lyft drivers are regular people and many also have day jobs). Waze carpoolers, however, will have to verify their workplace.
A blog post by Waze CEO Noam Bardin explains more about the company's thinking behind the app.
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