Between companies like Uber and Lyft, breaking into the ride-service industry could prove quite difficult, but that isn't going to dissuade Waze from throwing its hat in the ring. Its new service may feature ads as the company looks to expand.
Waze Carpool Gets Limited Launch
The ride-service industry is proving to be a very contentious and competitive space. Uber has established itself as the top company in the field, with Lyft working to make up ground and become a strong competitor. Waze is now looking to do the same with the California launch of Waze Carpool, its own ride service. Waze users will be able to get rides from anyone going the same way they are. Rather than paying for the ride outright, though, riders and drivers will share gas expenses that are split around $0.50 a gallon.
This is a service Waze has been working on for some time. In 2015, Waze launched an early version of the service for use in Israel. This shouldn't be a surprise since Waze was founded in Israel in 2006 under the name FreeMap Israel before becoming Waze. Waze would later be acquired by Alphabet in 2013.
Waze had been running tests on the service in San Francisco, Monterey, and Sacramento. California has the highest number of Waze users which makes it an ideal location to launch its ride service. It officially goes live on June 6, with hopes to expand to other cities in the United States and to Brazil over then next few years.
Advertisements Not Far Behind
Waze is already looking for ways to monetize the service in a meaningful way with Waze Carpool launching. To that end, Josh Fried, the head of business development for the app, told Recode that Waze may start showing ads on Waze Carpool. Waze already shows local ads to users, so it makes sense that Waze Carpool would start showing ads as well.
A big reason behind this is monetization. As it stands right now, Waze has no way of making money off of the service. It did take cuts from drivers during the first run of the service in Israel but hasn't done so in California. As mentioned, the only "payment" for the ride is the split on gas costs. That said, Fried did say that commissions are being considered for Waze to make some sort of profit off of its service.
