Source: http://americans.org/2015/07/06/google-l...

Google’s complicated relationship with taxi-hailing app Uber got even more complex over the weekend as it emerged the Mountain View based search giant will launch a pilot project of its carpooling app RideWith, which allows users to share rides to work and back. The ride sharing will also be supported through the Waze app, which Google acquired in 2013. This puts Google squarely in competition with Uber, which is both an investment and customer of its Google Maps product.

The initial pilot will be conducted in Israel and based on the results pushed out to other cities in other countries. Waze, which gathers user generated traffic information, is based out of Israel.

RideWith is a concept that seems designed to mitigate some of the fierce criticism Uber generates. It will only connect passengers who want to get to their workplaces with drivers making a similar trip. Drivers will only be able to make two trips per day, and the software will ensure they only travel from their home neighborhoods to their workplaces.

There also won’t be a ton of money changing hands as a passenger will pay the driver only a nominal fare for the trip, as determined by the distance, preventing users from transforming it into a business.