Waze Carpool has been relaunched with new features that allow users to choose who they ride with for added safety and convenience — and small businesses especially can bennefit.
No More Blind Matching
In the past, the Waze app blindly matched the person you shared the ride with based on pickup and drop-off locations. Times being what they are, this can be a scary proposition. The new features have custom filters for choosing your driver based on gender, workplace, ratings and more.
Small businesses, whether they are at their base or traveling, can use Waze Carpool to save money. Instead of renting a car or using a cab, Uber or Lyft, carpooling is a great alternative for getting around and meeting new people.
The new improvements were implemented after the company received feedback from its users. With work being one of the primary reasons for using Waze, people wanted reliable drivers who showed up on time. The customization features not only lets people choose the best drivers, but also rate their performance for other users and of course make them feel safe when jumping into a car with a person they are not familiar with.
Features of the Waze Carpool Update
The most important feature is no more blind matching. You can now choose the driver based on detailed profiles and ratings. You can also see if there are connections with the driver, such as the same workplace and mutual friends to increase the level of comfort and security. Once you fill out your criteria, your best match will appear on the top of the list.
The customization feature has filters to choose rides only with your coworkers and same gender. Waze says it is adding more options soon.
The last addition is a feature for improving your chances to find a match. By sending multiple ride or drive requests along with easy access to the calendar view, Waze says your chances will be better.
Making Money on Waze
When you start using Waze as a driver, you are basically recovering the cost of using your car. Google, which bought Waze for $1.1 billion in 2013, says it is not to earn an income. It has a payment system which doles out money monthly to drivers based on shared miles.
You can download the app for Android and iOS here.
Images: Waze Carpool
