Waze Carpool Terms of Service

Last modified: 31 May 2020

Welcome to Waze Carpool!

The Service

Waze Carpool is a carpool platform provided through the Waze service, including the Waze Carpool app and the Waze app (“Waze”), to connect Waze users that are looking for a ride (“Riders”) with Waze users that may be headed in the same direction (“Drivers”), both of them willing to share a ride.

Waze Carpool is provided by either (i) Google LLC, with offices at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, California 94043, if you are using the Service in the United States, Brazil or Mexico, or (ii) Google Ireland Limited, with offices at Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland, if you are using the Service in Israel (“Google”). Personal data used in connection with Waze Carpool is controlled and processed by Google’s affiliate, Waze Mobile Ltd. (“Waze Ltd.”) according to these terms and the Waze Privacy Policy (the “Waze Privacy Policy”).

References to “Terms of Use” in the Waze Privacy Policy include these terms, and references to the “Services” and “Application” include Waze Carpool and Waze Carpool’s mobile application.

By using Waze Carpool, you are agreeing to:

These terms, including the other terms and policies referenced here (the “Waze Carpool Terms”), and
The Waze Privacy Policy

(collectively, the “Terms”).

Important Note

WAZE CARPOOL IS A PLATFORM SERVICE THAT CONNECTS DRIVERS AND RIDERS WHO ARE WILLING TO SHARE A RIDE AND WHERE RIDERS MAY BE REQUIRED TO PAY THE DRIVER A CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS THE DRIVER COSTS (SUCH AS GAS, TOLL LANES, ETC.), AND RIDERS AND/OR DRIVERS MAY BE REQUIRED TO PAY A GOOGLE SERVICE FEE IN CONNECTION WITH SUCH RIDE (AS THIS TERM IS DEFINED BELOW).

ALL CARPOOL ARRANGEMENTS MADE THROUGH WAZE CARPOOL ARE BETWEEN RIDERS AND DRIVERS. GOOGLE IS NOT A PARTY TO ANY CARPOOLING AGREEMENTS. GOOGLE DOES NOT REPRESENT OR ENDORSE AND WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR:

THE ACTIONS, ERRORS OR OMISSIONS OF ANY WAZE CARPOOL USER;
THE TRUTH OR ACCURACY OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED BY A WAZE CARPOOL USER; OR
A WAZE CARPOOL USER’S COMPLIANCE WITH THE TERMS OR ANY APPLICABLE LAW. GOOGLE DISCLAIMS ALL LIABILITY FOR THE ACTIONS, ERRORS OR OMISSIONS OF WAZE CARPOOL USERS.

Using Waze Carpool

General Information.

You may only use Waze Carpool to arrange a jointly use of a car by a Driver and one or more Riders (a “Ride”). You may not use Waze Carpool to provide or procure any other services (such as package deliveries) nor to engage in commercial services or with the purpose of obtaining profits.

Additional Requirements

Additional requirements (including age requirements) are set out in the Waze Carpool Help Center. You must comply with these requirements in order to use Waze Carpool.

Misuse of Waze Carpool

You may use Waze Carpool only as permitted by law, including applicable export and re-export control laws and regulations. Don’t misuse Waze Carpool. For example:

Don’t interfere with Waze Carpool or try to access it using a method other than the interface and the instructions that we provide; and
Respect the privacy of your fellow users. In particular, do not misuse personal information about Riders or Drivers that you may access through your use of the Service.
Don’t create or use multiple accounts to abuse Google policies, circumvent filters, or otherwise subvert restrictions placed on your account. For example, if you’ve been blocked by another user or have had your account disabled due to abuse, don’t create a replacement account.
You agree not to use Waze Carpool for unlawful or fraudulent purposes, or otherwise in violation of applicable law and regulation.

We may suspend or stop providing Waze Carpool to you if you do not comply with our terms or policies or if we are investigating suspected misconduct.

Intellectual Property

Using Waze Carpool does not give you ownership of any intellectual property rights in Waze Carpool or the content you access. You may not use content from Waze Carpool unless you obtain permission from its owner or are otherwise permitted by law. These terms do not grant you the right to use any branding or logos used in Waze Carpool. Don’t remove, obscure, or alter any legal notices displayed in or along with Waze Carpool.

Third Party Content

Waze Carpool displays some content that is not ours. This content is the sole responsibility of the entity that makes it available. We may review content to determine whether it is illegal or violates our policies, and we may remove or refuse to display content that we reasonably believe violates our policies or the law. But that does not necessarily mean that we review content, so please don’t assume that we do.

Communications

In connection with your use of Waze Carpool, we may send you notifications, service announcements, administrative messages, promotions and other information, via email, SMS, and other channels. You may opt out of any or all of those communications (other than important communications relating to your account or confirmations) at any time.

Safe Use of the Service

Waze Carpool is available on mobile devices. Do not use Waze Carpool in a way that distracts you or prevents you from obeying traffic or safety laws.

Arranging a Ride

Please be considerate when using Waze Carpool. When you schedule a Ride with another Waze Carpool user, you are committing to meet that user at a specified location at a certain time and agreeing to share a Ride with that user, so be sure you want to share the Ride before requesting or accepting it, and make best efforts to be at the meeting point on time.

Cancelling a Ride

You can cancel a Ride, but it may affect your ability to request or accept future Rides.

Driver-Specific Terms

Driver Eligibility Criteria

If you are a Driver and want to provide Rides through Waze Carpool, you must:

Hold a valid driving licence for the area in which you are driving;
Drive safely and in accordance with all applicable driving rules and laws;
Ensure your vehicle is roadworthy, and has all certifications required by law;
Have appropriate insurance coverage for all rides and any accidents that may occur during a ride, including without limitation personal injury protection insurance coverage for your vehicle with no less than the minimum limits required by applicable law;
Only provide rides in a personal capacity and not in the course of a business or for commercial purposes;
Not use Waze Carpool to generate a profit; and
Not use Waze Carpool to provide rides on motorcycles.

Providing Rides

You agree to not misrepresent in any way, whether material or not, any aspect of your identity, background, credentials, regulated status or professional standing when using Waze Carpool. You agree to comply with all applicable laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which you provide or offer to provide Rides. If your offer or provision of a Ride requires a license or other regulatory approval, you must first obtain that license or approval and remain in good standing before offering or providing the Ride.

Google may not display your Ride offers to Waze Carpool users in certain cases, including when Google finds them in breach of the Waze Carpool Terms, policies or the applicable law.

Information Shared With Riders

The following information may be visible to other users in Waze to help connect you with Riders:

Your name and Waze Carpool profile picture;
Your place of work as derived from your work email domain, if you have provided it;
Your vehicle make, model, colour and registration identifier (license plate);
How long you have been a Waze user;
How long you have been a Waze Carpool user;
The number of rides you have completed as a Rider and as a Driver; and
The number of times you have been thanked in connection with a ride by other Waze Carpool users.
When you were last active on Waze Carpool.
Information from your social network accounts, in case you have chosen to integrate your account with your social networks, including by signing onto Waze account by using your social network.
Other profile information that you have added or that is shown on your profile screen.

In addition, while you are en route to pick up a Rider and for the duration of each Ride, Waze Carpool will share your current location and your estimated time of arrival at the agreed pickup location with the applicable Rider.

Rider-Specific Terms

Verifying Driver Details

Although Google may in some instances attempt to verify certain information provided by Drivers, Google has no obligation to do so and makes no representations regarding the accuracy of such verification. It is your responsibility to verify the identity, qualifications and status of a Driver.

Information Shared With Drivers and Riders

The following information may be visible to other users in Waze to help connect you with Drivers and other Riders:

The ride you have requested;
Your name and Waze Carpool profile picture;
Your place of work based on your work email domain, if you have provided it;
How long you have been a Waze application user;
How long you have been a Waze Carpool user;
The number of Rides you have completed as a Rider and as a Driver; and
The number of times you have been thanked in connection with a Ride by other Waze Carpool users.
When you were last active on Waze Carpool.
Information from your social network accounts, in case you have chosen to integrate your account with your social networks, including by signing onto Waze account by using your social network.
Other profile information that you have added or that is shown on your profile screen.

Payments

Free Rides

Drivers may decide to provide a Ride for free. Any terms and conditions that apply to paid Rides will apply to free Rides, except with respect to Driver Payment and Reimbursement-related matters and Google Service Fee(s).

Payment

If a Driver chooses not to provide a Ride for free, the Rider may be required to pay the Driver a contribution towards the Driver’s costs (gas, toll lanes, vehicle depreciation, etc.) in connection with such Ride, and the Driver and Rider must mutually agree on the amount that has to be paid to the driver before the Ride is confirmed (the “Payment”).

If Driver has enough seats, Driver may pick up multiple Riders and each may make contributions towards the Driver’s costs. The amount to be paid between each Rider and the Driver may vary depending on whether other Riders join or leave the Driver’s carpool. As a result, the Payment for each Rider may decrease if other Riders join the carpool, or increase if other Riders leave the carpool, and the amount received by the Driver may vary as a result. Any changes in the Payment can be reviewed in the Waze Carpool app at any time.

Any payments (including payment requests and transfers) must be made exclusively through the Waze Carpool platform.

Google Service Fee

Google may charge the Rider and/or the Driver a service fee with respect to each Ride, which is paid to Google for providing the Waze Carpool platform (the “Google Service Fee”). The amount the Driver receives for a Ride (the Payment excluding the Google Service Fee) is called the “Reimbursement”. The maximum amount of the Google Service Fee which will be charged will be disclosed to the Rider and/or Driver (as applicable) prior to the Rider and Driver agreeing to the Ride and can be reviewed in the app, as part of the “Price Breakdown” screen, at any time and in the “Ride Ended” screen after the Ride has completed.

Completed Rides

Riders are obligated to pay the Reimbursement to the Driver and any Google Service Fee charged to the Rider after the Ride is completed. Drivers are obligated to pay any Google Service Fee charged to the Driver after the Ride is completed. A Ride is completed after the Driver drops the Rider off at the requested drop-off point, using Waze, and each of the Driver and Rider have submitted feedback in connection with the Ride.

Referrals and Promos

Referral program - eligibility: We may give you the opportunity to refer eligible individuals to join Waze Carpool as Drivers or RIders. To be eligible to participate in a referral program as a referrer, you must:

Be a legal resident of your country;
Be the age of majority in the country where you reside; and
Have a Waze Carpool account and be in good standing with regards to his Carpool account. If you violate the Terms, Waze may suspend or terminate your ability to participate in a referral program.

Invite, Referral or Promo Codes: We may provide you with a unique code to distribute to potential new Waze Carpool Drivers or Riders. These codes are owned by Waze. Waze may at any time (a) limit the number of codes that are made available to you or (b) reclaim, deactivate, invalidate or terminate your code under certain circumstances, including in cases of potential breach to the applicable law, Waze Carpool Terms, or to protect third party rights or the public.

How to Refer Drivers and Riders: To refer Drivers or Riders, the person must:

Have never been a Driver or a Rider previously on Waze Carpool;
Meet all eligibility requirements to be a Driver or Rider on Waze Carpool; and
Satisfy any additional invite, referral or promo requirements.

You may refer drivers by:

Sending a code via the Waze Carpool app: Waze may generate an automatic invitation text or email which you may choose to use in order to invite a person you wish to refer via a third party service (such as email service, social network service). Note that the invitation will be sent by you and not by Waze. If your invitee clicks on the link in your SMS or email, the code will automatically be applied to the new user’s account. YOU REPRESENT THAT YOU HAVE THE NECESSARY CONSENT FROM YOUR REFEREE TO SEND THE CODE UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.
Sending a code directly: You may access a code in the Waze Carpool app, and direct your individuals to manually input your code into their Waze Carpool app. If the individual does not enter your code in their Waze Carpool app, you will not get a referral credit or bonus.

Credits or Bonuses: The credit or bonus you receive from referring Drivers or Riders, or as part of any other Promo program, may vary, based on:

Which account you use to refer the new user (for example, if you refer from your Waze Carpool Driver account or your passenger account);
The region where you reside; and
Other factors, determined by Waze in its sole discretion.

Please Note:

Credits for a free ride must be used within 60 days’ of the day you receive the credit, unless explicitly mentioned otherwise. Bonuses may be subject to different expiration dates and limitations.
If you refer a user in a different country or territory than you, that user will get a credit or bonus reflected in his or her local currency. Credits or bonuses may contain additional geographical use limits, as well.
Credits for additional rides are not transferable and not redeemable for cash.
Driver bonuses will be added to your account and paid in the next payment cycle, together with your completed rides.
If more than one person claims credit for an individual’s referral, Waze will determine who the credit or bonus should be given to.
Waze may limit the number of credits or bonuses awarded to any individual.

Prohibited Conduct: Waze may withhold or deduct any credits or bonuses obtained through a Waze referral or promo program if Waze believes that the credit or bonus was in error, fraudulent, illegal or in violation of these Terms. You agree to the following:

No Spam: You will not spam anyone with invite codes, and will at all times remain compliant with applicable law.
No Selling Codes: You will not sell, trade or barter your invite code under any circumstances.
No Advertising Codes: You will not advertise your invite code (for example, through Google, Twitter, Craigslist).
No Fraudulent Activity: You will not defraud or abuse (or attempt to defraud or abuse) Waze/Google, the Terms, or any referred individuals.

Google Payments

Payments are processed by Google Payment Corporation or equivalent Google Payments entity, depending on your country. In order to pay (if you are a Rider) or receive the Reimbursement (if you are a Driver), you will need to sign up for a Google Payment Account and agree to the payment terms as specified in your Google Payments account. Please ensure that you read those terms carefully before agreeing to them and making any purchase.

Payment Processing Methods

Google may make available to you various payment processing methods to facilitate Waze Carpool related payments. You must abide by any relevant terms and conditions or other legal agreement, whether with Google, Google Payment Corp., or a third party, that governs your use of a given payment processing method. Google may add or remove payment processing methods at its sole discretion and without notice to you. If you are a Rider, once a Ride is completed, Google or Google’s payment processor may charge your credit card or other form of payment that you indicate for the Payment for the Ride, along with any additional applicable amounts (including any Google Service Fee charged to the Rider and any taxes, if applicable). You are solely responsible for all taxes, rights, contributions and other amounts payable associated with Rides you obtain through Waze Carpool.

Outstanding Payments

You agree to pay and are solely responsible for all amounts due for Rides; you will not be able to use the Waze Carpool platform if any amounts are outstanding or due to Drivers or Google.

Payment Terms

If you are a Driver, your accumulated Reimbursements will be paid to you once per month or more frequently as permitted by the Waze Carpool platform. You will need to sign up for a Google Payment Account in order to be paid. To ensure proper payment, you are responsible for providing and maintaining accurate contact and payment information in your Account.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, Google (or the applicable payment processor) will not be obligated to settle Reimbursements to you:

(i) for any Rides for which Google has not received full settlement in final available funds from the Rider or

(ii) if your earned balance at the time of disbursement or transfer is less than the minimum amount for Reimbursement specified in the Waze Carpool Payments Help Center. Google may change the minimum amount from time to time.

Google will not grant any credit to Drivers.

Unclaimed Property

If Google is holding funds you are entitled to in accordance with these terms and Google is unable to contact you and has no record of your use of the service for several years, Applicable Law may require Google to report these funds as unclaimed property. If this occurs, Google will try to locate you at the email address shown in our records, but if Google is unable to locate you, it may be required to deliver any such funds to the applicable state or entity as unclaimed property. Google reserves the right to deduct a dormancy fee or other administrative charges from such unclaimed funds, as permitted by Applicable Law.

Transaction limits

There are limits and maximum transaction amounts in place in connection with Waze Carpool-related payments and disbursements. Please refer to the Waze Carpool Payments Help Center for information on these limits.

Compliance with Tax Laws

You must comply with any and all applicable tax laws, including the reporting and payment of any taxes arising in connection with your use of Waze Carpool or payments made through Waze Carpool. The reporting and payment of any such applicable taxes are your responsibility.

Taxes

Drivers are responsible for determining if the Reimbursement is taxable, and for remitting taxes to the appropriate tax authority. Riders must pay for Rides without any reduction for Taxes. ”Taxes” means any duties, customs fees, or taxes (other than income tax) associated with providing Rides, including any related penalties or interest.

Reimbursements and Chargebacks

Google is not responsible for any fraudulent use of Waze Carpool or for any chargebacks, reversals or other failure of a Rider to pay any payment or amount. Where a Rider charges back or otherwise reverses a transaction, Drivers agree to return any corresponding amount already provided by Waze Carpool. Waze Carpool may set off any amounts owed to Drivers against any amounts that Driver owes (for example, as a result of chargebacks or reversals).

For more information on Reimbursements, see the Waze Carpool Help Center.

Disputes

Any disputes relating to Rides and carpooling agreements are between Riders and Drivers. Google is under no obligation to resolve disputes between Waze Carpool users. If a Rider and Driver resolve a dispute in the Rider’s favor, Google may deduct the value of any overpaid Reimbursement from future Reimbursements due to the Driver.

Privacy

Account Information

In order to use Waze Carpool, you may be required to provide information about yourself, including your name, phone number, and email address. If you are a Driver, you will also be required to provide your vehicle’s details, and you agree that Google may import all of this information from your Waze profile. You agree that any such information that you provide in connection with Waze Carpool will always be accurate, correct and up to date. In some cases, we may ask you to send us additional information or to answer additional questions to help us verify your identity.

You may be required to add personal photo to your Profile. Please use reasonable care and common sense in what you scan or store as photos. Google is not liable for user-added photos, including photos containing personally identifiable or other sensitive information, or for errors resulting from scanning or storing of a photo. Adding photos that are unlawful, offensive, harmful, or otherwise objectionable may result in the suspension of your access to the service, in Google’s sole discretion.

In addition, in order to make or receive payments through Waze Carpool, you may be required to provide Waze Ltd. with payment details if you are a Rider (such as credit card number and expiration date) and bank account information if you are a Driver. To protect your privacy, your payment and bank account details may not be stored on Waze Ltd.’s systems but rather on a third party online payment gateway that assists Waze Ltd. in the authentication, authorization, charge and maintenance of your payment and bank account details. This is with the provision that such gateway is subject to applicable standards and regulations with respect to the holding of personal information and the processing of online payments.

Google Account

You need a Google Account in order to use Waze Carpool, and Waze Carpool uses information from your Google Account. For example, Waze Carpool may periodically access your commute patterns and last reported location from your Google Account Location History and use such information to:

Suggest pick-up and drop-off points to Riders; and
Match Ride Requests to Drivers.

You agree that your Google Account information may be provided to Waze Ltd. and used in connection with Waze Carpool, and that information provided to Waze Ltd. will be controlled and processed by Waze Ltd. according to these Waze Carpool Terms and the Waze Privacy Policy. In addition, Waze Ltd. may add Waze Carpool events for scheduled Rides to your Google Calendar.

Location Data

Some features of Waze Carpool make use of detailed location and route information, for example in the form of GPS signals and other information sent by the mobile device on which you use Waze Carpool. These features cannot be provided without this technology.

Copyright Protection

We respond to notices of alleged copyright infringement and terminate accounts of repeat infringers according to the process set out in the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act. We provide information to help copyright holders manage their intellectual property online.

If you think somebody is violating your copyrights in connection with Waze Carpool, you can submit a notice to Waze Ltd. You can find information about submitting notices and Waze Ltd.’s policy about responding to notices in Waze Ltd.’s Copyright Policy.

Your Content in Waze Carpool

Waze Carpool may allow you to upload, submit, store, send or receive content. You retain ownership of any intellectual property rights that you hold in that content. In short, what belongs to you stays yours.

When you upload, submit, store, send or receive content to or through Waze Carpool, you give Google and its affiliates (and those we work with) a worldwide licence to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with Waze Carpool), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content. The rights you grant in this licence are for the limited purpose of operating, promoting, and improving Waze Carpool, and to develop new services. This license continues even if you stop using Waze Carpool. Make sure you have the necessary rights to grant us this licence for any content that you submit to Waze Carpool.

About Software in Waze Carpool

Waze Carpool’s mobile application may update automatically on your device once a new version or feature is available.

Google gives you a personal, worldwide, royalty-free, non-assignable and non-exclusive licence to use the software provided to you by us as part of Waze Carpool. This licence is for the sole purpose of enabling you to use and enjoy the benefit of Waze Carpool as provided by us, in the manner permitted by these terms. You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, or lease any part of Waze Carpool or included software, nor may you reverse engineer or attempt to extract the source code of that software, unless laws prohibit those restrictions or you have our written permission.

Open source software is important to us. Some software used in Waze Carpool may be offered under an open source licence that we will make available to you. There may be provisions in the open source licence that expressly override some of these terms.

Our Warranties and Disclaimers

We provide Waze Carpool using a commercially reasonable level of skill and care and we hope that you will enjoy using it. But there are certain things that we do not promise about Waze Carpool. Other than as expressly set out in these terms, Google does not make any specific promises about Waze Carpool. For example, we don’t make any commitments about the content within Waze Carpool, the specific functions of Waze Carpool, or its reliability, availability, or ability to meet your needs. Waze Carpool is provided “AS IS”.

Some jurisdictions provide for certain warranties, like the implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. To the extent permitted under applicable law, we exclude all warranties.

All carpooling agreements made through Waze Carpool are between Riders and Drivers. By providing the Waze Carpool platform, Google acts solely as an intermediary and does not enter any carpooling agreements itself. Google does not vet, approve nor exert control over Waze Carpool users.

Liability for Waze Carpool

When permitted by law, Google and Google’s suppliers and distributors will not be responsible for lost profits, revenues or data, financial losses or indirect, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages.

You agree that Google will have no responsibility or liability for:

The actions, errors or omissions of any Waze Carpool user;
The truth or accuracy of any information provided by any Waze Carpool user;
The compliance by any Waze Carpool user with these terms or applicable laws.

To the extent permitted by law, the total liability of Google and its suppliers and distributors for any claims under these terms, including for any implied warranties, is limited to $100 USD (or its equivalent in local currency).

In all cases, Google and its suppliers and distributors will not be liable for any loss or damage that is not reasonably foreseeable.

We recognize that in some countries, you might have legal rights as a consumer. If you are using Waze Carpool for a personal purpose, then nothing in these terms or any additional terms limits any consumers’ legal rights which may not be waived by contract.

About These Waze Carpool Terms

We may modify any terms that apply to Waze Carpool to, for example, reflect changes to the law or changes to our services. You should look at the terms regularly. We’ll post notice of modifications to Waze Carpool Terms on this page. We’ll post notice of modified additional terms in the applicable service. Changes will not apply retroactively and will become effective no sooner than fourteen days after they are posted. However, changes addressing new functions for a service or changes made for legal reasons will be effective immediately. If you do not agree to the modified terms for a service, you should discontinue your use of Waze Carpool.

If there is a conflict between these Waze Carpool Terms and any additional terms, the additional terms will control for that conflict.

These terms control the relationship between Google, Waze Ltd., and you. They do not create any third party beneficiary rights.

Neither these terms nor your use of Waze Carpool will be construed as creating any relationship, partnership, joint venture, employer-employee, agency, or franchisor-franchisee relationship in any way and of any kind between you and Google.

We are constantly changing and improving Waze Carpool. We may add or remove functionalities or features, and we may suspend or stop Waze Carpool altogether.

If you do not comply with these terms, and we don’t take action right away, this doesn’t mean that we are giving up any rights that we may have (such as taking action in the future).

If it turns out that a particular term is not enforceable, this will not affect any other terms.

The laws of California, U.S.A., excluding California’s conflict of laws rules, will apply to any disputes arising out of or relating to these terms or the Services, all claims arising out of or relating to these terms or the Services will be litigated exclusively in the federal or state courts of Santa Clara County, California, USA, and you and Google consent to personal jurisdiction in those courts.

Notwithstanding the prior sentence, we recognize that the courts in some countries will not apply California law to certain disputes. If you reside in one of those countries, then where California law is excluded from applying, your country’s laws will apply to such disputes (contractual or non-contractual) arising out of or relating to these terms or the Service. Similarly, if the courts in your country will not permit you to consent to the jurisdiction and venue of the courts in Santa Clara County, then your local jurisdiction and venue will apply to such disputes.

Either party may apply to any court for an injunction or other relief to protect its intellectual property rights.

For information about how to contact Google, please visit our contact page.