Waze Announces New Carpooling Service

With Uber is in hot water for everything from invading users’ privacy to the CEO being a total and complete asshat, the time is prime for some new blood in the carshare game.

And Waze is here to give the people what they want.

The Alphabet-owned map and nav app just launched a new service rolling out in California that lets drivers offer up rides to passengers traveling on the same route. The difference here is that with Waze Carpool, rather than paying a traditional fee, riders chip in only enough to cover the cost of the gas. “Riders will pay the IRS’ mileage reimbursement rate of 54 cents per mile, all of which will go to the driver,” said Waze’s head of carpool, Josh Fried.

No fees. Just friends.

On the driver end, this means that they won’t have to have commercial car insurance or be subject to background checks. But before you get yourself in a tizzy over some undisclosed stranger picking you up, note that the app will still have safety features similar to Uber and Lyft. And, of course, there’s a rating system so you can report anything untoward. The app will never reveal anyone’s phone number, although it can be linked to Facebook or LinkedIn accounts to create a public profile.

So you’re wondering how they’re making money, right? Ads and data, just like everyone else, with the former displayed in app or delivered to drives when they pass certain geotagged locations.

Basically, everybody wins except Uber.

And that’s a system we can all get behind.