Depending on where you live, Waze might be more than just your standard navigation app. Now you might recall that back in 2016, Google launched a ride-sharing service using Waze. The initial rollout of the service was limited to San Francisco, but a report from The Wall Street Journal (via Fortune) has revealed that Google plans on expanding further.
Now before you get too excited, note that this expansion is only within the US and Latin America, meaning that Google’s expansion of Waze’s ride-sharing service will be more internal than external, so those of you living outside those regions probably shouldn’t expect these changes just yet.
Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Waze’s CEO Noam Bardin said, “Can we get the average person on his way to work to pick someone up and drop them off once in a while? That’s the biggest challenge.” The report is also claiming that the service will differentiate themselves from other ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft with its pricing where it will be considerably cheaper.
For example a ride downtown from Oakland, California to downtown San Francisco is expected to cost around $4.50, where UberPool and Lyft Line are priced at $10.57 and $12.40 respectively. No mention of any specific cities that the service will be expanded to, but we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for more info.