Google has thrown its hat into the hotly contested ride-sharing ring, launching a car-pooling service called RideWith. The service, which went live this week, is being trialled in Israel, through the navigation app Waze, which Google bought for $1 billion in 2013.
If the service is successful in the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv, Ra’anana and Herzliya, it will be duplicated for cities elsewhere in the world. The app will connect members of the public with drivers who are travelling the same route to work as them. The passenger will pay the driver a nominal fee for the trip, determined by the distance travelled, anticipated fuel consumption and depreciation. Waze will also take a commission on each fare, which is paid through the app using a credit card.
Google says drivers will be limited to two journeys each day, to prevent people trying to turn the service into a business, and they will be able to offer the service during rush hour only.
While taxi and ride-sharing services such as Uber have encountered significant regulatory barriers in many countries, including Germany, France and the Netherlands, Google says RideWith is not expected to encounter any. Regulators have come down on the side of taxi drivers in many countries, putting a stop to Uber services, which allow owners of private cars to provide taxi services.
Google says its app is different, as private drivers cannot transform the service into a profitable business activity. Whether regulators will view this as acceptable remains to be seen.
Already, regulators in the US state of California have ruled Sidecar's car-pooling service was breaking the law. The California Public Utilities Commission said there were issues with car-pooling services charging individual fares to each passenger when there were several in the car.