

Google enters the rideshare business
The tech company is launching a carpooling pilot program with help from its Waze app.
Google is gradually making moves to enter the rideshare market, announcing plans to launch a carpooling pilot program that will allow commuters to pay fellow drivers for a ride to and from work.
The new app, called RideWith, will utilize Google's Waze – an Israel-based navigation app that uses crowdsourced information shared by users to offer real-time traffic data – to learn the routes drivers most frequently take to work. RideWith will then match them up with people looking for a ride going in the same general direction.
The pilot program will launch in three Israeli cities initially: Tel Aviv, Ra’anana and Herzliya.
RideWith joins a growing list of apps billed as being "people powered."(Photo: Nebojsa Markovic/Shutterstock)
RideWith will be entering a market that already features the likes of Via and BlaBlaCar. It's also expected to compete with services such as Uber, Lyft and Gett – at least during rush hour – though Google is making sure to differentiate its service from those car-hailing apps.
RideWith will not allow drivers to earn a salary. Instead they will be limited to just two journeys a day and will receive a small payment from passengers based on distance traveled and a car maintenance fee.
RideWith joins a growing list of Israeli apps billed as being "people powered"; other apps include BillGuard, Nexar and Moovit, all of which use crowdsourcing to obtain intel for their users.
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