Google has stated testing a service similar to Uber through Waze that is a crowd-sourced map application that Google acquired sometime back. The Pilot for the same began in Tel Aviv, Israel on Monday.
This service is not exactly similar to Uber. It does not act as a taxi service. The Google’s ride sharing partners will accept only the riders whose destinations fall on route to the drivers’ route to and from work. Google will let the drivers to accept only two passengers a day. Obviously, it will support one while going to work and the other while going home.
The service will not provide for flexibility that is offered by Uber. It also indicates that Google will avoid the hurdles that will come from the alternate taxi services. These hurdles are known to Uber as the company faced several fines in the past for the reason of unlicensed taxing.
The drivers will be paid, but the fare will be calculated automatically based on the usage of gasoline and an arbitrary change for wear and tear on the vehicle. The drivers can make money for the gas that they are using to get to work.
Of course, Google is expected to spread this ride sharing service to the other markets if the testing goes smoothly.
Discussion