Google is set to compete with Uber Technologies, Inc. in the carpooling space, with the company said to expand its carpooling service to people in the San Francisco Bay area.

According to The Wall Street Journal Google plans to open the program to all San Francisco-area users of the Google-owned Waze app in the fall. Google has previously been running the service as a test with a pool of people which includes 25,000 employees from Google itself, along with UCSF, Adobe, and Walmart Global, all companies located close to Google’s Mountain View headquarters.

During the initial test, and presumably remaining the same after it is rolled out to the rest of the Bay area, users were able to use Waze to look for the closest driver already planning to drive a specific route, then send a carpooling request; drivers receive ride requests and then are given the option to accept or decline the offer.

Under the service, riders pay the Waze carpool driver 54 cents per mile, a number based on the cost per mile presumed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) but more notably much less than the standard rate charged by Uber and Lyft, Inc. Of note, Google believes that participants do not have to pay tax on the payments as they are literally only being charged for gas, and that because the rate is low, participants won’t be looking to offer their services in a professional manner, again a la Uber or Lyft.

Google neither collects the money nor charges a fee for the service, with users settling the bill directly with the driver, although this could change in the future.

Concerns

While moving into the carpooling business may seem a simple expansion for Google, particularly given that Waze has been running a carpooling service in its native Israel for over a year, there are nonetheless concerns going forward.

“I don’t think they’ve had any significant experience in a lot of the issues that will surely arise around” starting a ride-sharing business,” Macquarie Group analyst Ben Schachter told the Journal while noting that Google would need to navigate potential pitfalls including legal and safety questions.

That said, if they do manage to work through any issues, the service has the great potential to grow immensely not only across the United States but the world, and will also put a dent in efforts by Uber and Lyft to offer similar car pooling services.

Image credit: Waze/ Google