Google to undercut Uber in San Francisco with new ride-sharing service

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On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal said a “person familiar with the matter” confirmed that Google would be moving into the ride-sharing market currently dominated by Uber and, to a lesser extent, Lyft. The source said that since May, Google has been testing a feature that lets Google employees and employees of other nearby firms in the Bay Area organize carpools through Waze, a mapping and traffic app purchased by Google in 2013.

The report noted that this new service would be different from Uber and Lyft in that it would only try to connect people who are already going in the same direction, offering rates low enough to discourage drivers from operating like taxis. The service will only be available in San Francisco at the beginning.

According to the WSJ, Waze’s drivers in the closed pilot test only make 54 cents a mile, although Google doesn’t take a cut as Uber and Lyft do.

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Source: Ars Technica – Google to undercut Uber in San Francisco with new ride-sharing service