Alphabet Unveils Program for Carpooling Via App
May 16 2016 - 4:50PM
Dow Jones News
Google parent Alphabet Inc. is pushing into the rapidly
expanding ride-sharing business with a new app that lets commuters
carpool together, further fraying its ties with Uber Technologies
Inc.
Alphabet on Monday unveiled a pilot program that will enable
several thousand San Francisco-area workers to hitch rides to or
from work with users of Alphabet's popular Waze navigation app.
Riders will pay drivers 54 cents a mile, and Alphabet won't take a
cut during the pilot.
The program signals Alphabet is likely to use Waze as a way into
the increasingly popular world of ride sharing, pitting it more
directly against Uber, the world's most valuable private
venture-capital-backed company, which dominates ride sharing in the
U.S.
Alphabet and Uber have been allies. Alphabet's Google Ventures
invested $250 million in Uber in 2013 and included prompts to book
Uber rides in its Google Maps app. Alphabet's senior vice president
for corporate development, David Drummond, is on Uber's board.
However, the relationship is increasingly fraught. Uber is
developing its own mapping and driverless-car technology, which
could compete with Alphabet's efforts to develop a self-driving
car. A spokeswoman for Uber declined to comment on the company's
relationship with Alphabet.
The new ride-sharing program comes just days after Apple Inc.
invested $1 billion in Chinese ride-sharing firm Didi Chuxing
Technology Co., whose other investors include Chinese Internet
giants Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. General
Motors Co., meanwhile, invested $500 million in Uber rival Lyft
Inc. Many of the companies are also hoping to upend transportation
by pairing their bets on ride sharing with work on driverless
cars.
Alphabet said it began testing its carpooling app, called Waze
Rider, in Tel Aviv in July 2015. Thousands of people now use the
app across Israel, where Alphabet takes a 15% commission on each
ride. In the fall, Google employees began testing the app and their
use will expand under the new pilot.
An Alphabet spokeswoman said the company doesn't have long-term
plans for the app and is simply testing it to gauge users'
interest. She also said that unlike Uber or Lyft, drivers won't be
able to make a living off Waze Rider because they are limited to
two rides a day—to and from work. Drivers will be paired with only
one rider and they will have to share near identical commutes.
Riders in the pilot are limited to about 25,000 Bay Area
employees of several companies, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and
Adobe Systems Inc., but Alphabet expects only a fraction of those
workers to use the service. Alphabet said that over the next
several weeks it will gradually offer the opportunity to drive for
the carpool service to several thousand of the more than 700,000
Waze users in the Bay Area. Alphabet said it doesn't plan to vet
drivers for the carpooling service, which has been an area of
controversy for Uber and Lyft.
Douglas MacMillan contributed to this article.
Write to Jack Nicas at jack.nicas@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 16, 2016 16:35 ET (20:35 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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