Google has long provided your entry point and Horror Movies | Adult Movies Onlineguided your journey around the web. Soon, Google parent Alphabet may help with every part of your journey on the road.
Alphabet is reportedly launching a ride-sharing business that coordinates carpools. The service is being incorporated as an additional feature in Google's Waze app, which provides driving directions not unlike Google Maps but also incorporates real-time, community-sourced traffic information.
Called Waze Carpool, the program is only available in the San Francisco Bay Area and will begin piloting with 25,000 employees of local tech companies. That's just a fraction of the more than 700,000 Waze users in the Bay Area, according to the Wall Street Journalwhich first reported the news.
The update was immediately casted as a way Alphabet could be looking to overtake Uber. This pilot is at a much smaller scale, however, and it's not analogous to Uber's business. Uber drivers act as chauffeurs with limited choice on a destination.
Yet, Google's program could begin to chip away at the ride-hailing giant's rapid rise as the most valued startup in the world at $68 billion. Given Alphabet's commitment to mapping software and to self-driving cars, this could be the first major step in a long haul to be your go-to commuting service.
Google is taking small steps into what is still a very difficult business.
It's no secret that Uber is rapidly losing money. The company lost at least $1.2 billion in the first six months of 2016, Bloombergreported.
Why would Google want to enter a cash-bleeding environment? With Google's $531 billion market capitalization and $73.1 billion cash on hand, it isn't in a bad position to take risk. Yet, it still has a responsibility to its shareholders.
It's important to note is that this first foray into ride-sharing should not be too costly. Google is not paying drivers or covering the cost of cars or insurance. The drivers are contractors after all, just like Uber and Lyft. Unlike Uber and Lyft, the company said it does not plan to vet drivers.
All Google is doing is supplying the technology
All Google is doing is supplying the technology for connecting drivers, the real-time mapping and the payment traction (riders pay drivers $0.54 per mile).
Google itself admits the simplicity via its announcement.
“Since so many people are already using Waze to get to work, why not help a fellow commuter heading in the same direction?” the website reads. "No multiple stops: door-to-door carpooling is convenient and affordable."
Waze released a tongue-in-cheek video explaining the benefits of carpooling. "It appears a vast majority of cars have more than one seat already built in, so if commuters ride together everyone can beat rush hour traffic. It's called carpool," the video says.
The concept of carpooling is not new, and Google doesn't pretend to have invented it. Uber itself is testing a similar service to Google's called uberCOMMUTE in Chicago.
So why is Google stepping in? By encouraging commutes, Waze will collect more traffic and driving data. The operation could generate revenue for Google via payments, advertising or selling data. Waze does not have a constant revenue stream, for now.
While Waze Carpool does not directly translate to Uber's core business in the future, this pilot could be a future test for a ride-hailing experience. The service lets Google continue to build the software capabilities. Uber, which currently uses Google Maps, has invested $500 million in creating its own mapping software.
Whether or not Google spends money on attracting drivers to join depends on the future of autonomous vehicles. With self-driving cars, which Uber, Google, Apple, Tesla and car manufacturers are working on, there would be no need for Uber's class of drivers. In that type of world, it's up to whoever has the best software and hardware.
Topics Google Uber
Happy Fourth of July from The Paris ReviewThe Morning News Roundup for July 23, 2014What We’re Loving: Reckless Love, Love via Telegraph by The Paris ReviewDear Diary: An Interview with Esther Pearl Watson by Meg LemkeThomas Berger, 1924–2014The Morning News Roundup for July 11, 2014In Limbo by Sadie SteinBittersweetUnder the VolcanoRegina and LouiseThe Morning News Roundup for July 4, 2014What We’re Loving: Boyhood, Blockbusters, Bay Area Ceramists by The Paris ReviewOur Recap of Canto 34 of Dante’s “Inferno”The Morning News Roundup for June 20, 2014Future Library by Dan PiepenbringWin, Lose, or DrawUnder the VolcanoWorld Cup Recap for June 20, 2014The Morning News Roundup for July 14, 2014Islands in the Stream Dummy Land by Avi Steinberg TPR vs. NYM: Bittersweet Victory by Cody Wiewandt 'The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom' hands Snapchat's My AI is divisive among users Microsoft removes Xbox gameplay video sharing to Twitter after API fee hike Larry David Humor; Fairies and Mushrooms by Sadie Stein Staff Picks: Lucian Freud, Beryl Bainbridge by The Paris Review California Girls by Zan Romanoff Wells Tower, DBC Pierre, and Tobias Wolff by Chris Flynn Yelp adds AI New Beats Studio Buds+ earbuds will come in new, transparent color Southern Gothic by Margaret Eby Germany to launch coronavirus tracing app this week Scene and Heard by Alexandra Pechman 'Atlanta's Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children' HBO Doc: Review 'Shadowbanned' tweets are now officially labeled on Twitter Two Poems: 'The Crew Change' and 'Rice in the Spoon' by Don Share New meme has some great ideas for what to put up instead of Christopher Columbus statues 'Succession' Season 4, episode 5: The GoJo deal explained Pornhub launches Premium Lovers, a premium membership for couples
1.6634s , 10132.3515625 kb
Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【Horror Movies | Adult Movies Online】,Pursuit Information Network