Why Google thinks ride-sharing via Waze Carpool is a worthy investment

Google has long provided your entry point and guided your journey around the web. Soon, Google parent Alphabet may help with every part of your journey on the road.

Alphabet is reportedly launching a ride-sharing business that coordinates carpools. The service is being incorporated as an additional feature in Google's Waze app, which provides driving directions not unlike Google Maps but also incorporates real-time, community-sourced traffic information.

Called Waze Carpool, the program is only available in the San Francisco Bay Area and will begin piloting with 25,000 employees of local tech companies. That's just a fraction of the more than 700,000 Waze users in the Bay Area, according to the Wall Street Journal which first reported the news.

The update was immediately casted as a way Alphabet could be looking to overtake Uber. This pilot is at a much smaller scale, however, and it's not analogous to Uber's business. Uber drivers act as chauffeurs with limited choice on a destination.

Yet, Google's program could begin to chip away at the ride-hailing giant's rapid rise as the most valued startup in the world at $68 billion. Given Alphabet's commitment to mapping software and to self-driving cars, this could be the first major step in a long haul to be your go-to commuting service.

The money problem

Google is taking small steps into what is still a very difficult business.

It's no secret that Uber is rapidly losing money. The company lost at least $1.2 billion in the first six months of 2016, Bloomberg reported.

Why would Google want to enter a cash-bleeding environment? With Google's $531 billion market capitalization and $73.1 billion cash on hand, it isn't in a bad position to take risk. Yet, it still has a responsibility to its shareholders.

It's important to note is that this first foray into ride-sharing should not be too costly. Google is not paying drivers or covering the cost of cars or insurance. The drivers are contractors after all, just like Uber and Lyft. Unlike Uber and Lyft, the company said it does not plan to vet drivers.

All Google is doing is supplying the technology for connecting drivers, the real-time mapping and the payment traction (riders pay drivers $0.54 per mile).

Google itself admits the simplicity via its announcement.

“Since so many people are already using Waze to get to work, why not help a fellow commuter heading in the same direction?” the website reads. "No multiple stops: door-to-door carpooling is convenient and affordable."

Waze released a tongue-in-cheek video explaining the benefits of carpooling. "It appears a vast majority of cars have more than one seat already built in, so if commuters ride together everyone can beat rush hour traffic. It's called carpool," the video says.

The concept of carpooling is not new, and Google doesn't pretend to have invented it. Uber itself is testing a similar service to Google's called uberCOMMUTE in Chicago.

First gear

So why is Google stepping in? By encouraging commutes, Waze will collect more traffic and driving data. The operation could generate revenue for Google via payments, advertising or selling data. Waze does not have a constant revenue stream, for now.

While Waze Carpool does not directly translate to Uber's core business in the future, this pilot could be a future test for a ride-hailing experience. The service lets Google continue to build the software capabilities. Uber, which currently uses Google Maps, has invested $500 million in creating its own mapping software.

Whether or not Google spends money on attracting drivers to join depends on the future of autonomous vehicles. With self-driving cars, which Uber, Google, Apple, Tesla and car manufacturers are working on, there would be no need for Uber's class of drivers. In that type of world, it's up to whoever has the best software and hardware.