The Waze navigation app is headed in a new, and different, direction.
Beyond telling us the best way to get around town, it now wants to be the place to arrange carpool rides. The Google-owned service, which Waze had been testing in Israel and California, is now available nationally, in all 50 United States, via the new Waze Carpool smartphone app.
Drivers charge passengers for the lift but can't make a living from it – just enough to basically reimburse them for their gas, insurance and other costs – up to 54 cents a mile.
To use the service as a passenger, download the Waze Carpool app in the Apple and Google Play app stores, put in your commute time, home and work address, and see who's available during that time. Names of other nearby Wazers will then show up. From a list supplied by Waze, you click it to request a ride and await a response.