Despite the fact that Waze Carpool has seen some after-pandemic success, the company decided to wind down the service and ultimately close it down starting in September, The Verge reports. Available in the United States since 2016, Waze announced last week plans to shut down its carpooling service in an effort to find new ways to serve its customers.
While Waze was predominantly a commuting app pre-COVID, today the proportion of errands and travel drives have surpassed commutes. This means we have an opportunity to find even more impactful ways to bring together a global community to share real-time insights and help each other outsmart traffic – this is what has always made Waze truly special.
With the gas prices rising again, Waze’s carpooling service started to pick up the pace, but it was probably not enough to convince the company to continue to provide the alternative to its customers. The fact that many people are now working from home following the 2-year pandemic didn’t help either.
On the bright side, we’re expecting some sort of new service from Waze judging by the company’s statement regarding the retiring of its carpooling service. It might be an alternative to carpooling that would be more profitable for Waze or a completely different service.
