Google Owned Waze Is Shelving Carpooling Service

Google’s subsidiary Waze will be shutting down its Carpooling service dubbed Waze Carpool. It has been a service that connects drivers and commuters, but will shut down after 6 years as there has been a shift in commuting patterns because of the pandemic with work from home becoming more prevalent. The service first started in San Francisco in 2016 and then expanded not only in the US but also was launched in Brazil and Waze’s home Israel. The standalone carpool app was launched in 2018. 

“Driving behaviors on the roads have changed: while Waze was predominantly a commuting app pre-COVID, today the proportion of errands and travel drives have surpassed commutes. We want to continue to make a real-world impact by doubling down on helping cities address mobility problems such as congestion, safety, sustainability, and cost. In order for us to achieve this we will be retiring the Waze Carpool service to focus the company’s efforts on better supporting drivers on the road today,” said a Waze spokesperson to Techcrunch. 

Waze planned to connect people with car-poolers as they could save money, and fuel, and help decrease the number of cars on the road. The app would allow riders and drivers to find their own carpooling friends based on profiles, star ratings, several mutual friends, etc. The app was also designed to show off the best matches based on the profile. 

But the pandemic has destroyed the carpooling model as people want their own private vehicles due to the risk of COVID exposure. On top of this, many people don’t now go to work as they are working from home. For Waze, the service is now not commercially viable. 

“We are proud of what we accomplished through Waze Carpool and are grateful to the Carpool community for sharing drives and working together to take cars off the road,” the spokesperson said.

Waze says that it will find more impactful ways of bringing its commuter community together to share real-time insights and help reduce traffic on the roads. Waze also wants to work on better supporting drivers on the road and helping cities across the world solve mobility and transport issues.