Archinect - News

Coworking real-estate empire We Company announces smart cities initiative

2019-03-19T17:17:00-04:00

We Company, formerly known as WeWork, has announced plans to launch a smart cities program. Since its founding in 2010, the real-estate empire has collected an enormous amount of data on how people work and live, using that information to shape its more than 600 spaces. As the global coworking company expands its brand to tackle residential real estate (WeLive) and education (WeGrow), it is hoping to use its aggregated information to reenvision the future of our cities.

To do so, We Company has hired Di-Ann Eisnor, the former Waze executive, and Dror Benshetrit, the designer and futurist whose eponymous studio is known for their pioneering object and installation designs. Together, the two (alongside engineers, architects, data scientists, biologists, and economists) will use their innovation of the tech sector to address problems of urbanization and climate change.

WeGrow NYC, We Company's first elementary school; designed by Bjarke Ingels Group. Photo by Dave Burk.

In recent years,...

Google launches Waze Carpool with cost-neutral pricing

2016-05-26T18:46:00-04:00

The pilot program is limited to about 25,000 employees of companies including Walmart and Adobe Systems... Waze will match riders with drivers already heading along similar routes during the morning and evening rush hours. [...] Waze Carpool is charging riders just $0.54 a mile, which is also what the IRS recommends companies reimburse their employees per mile for business-related travel. “Waze Carpool focuses on covering costs, not generating an income,” the company explains.

Google purchased Waze, the Israeli GPS-based navigation system with real-time travel details submitted by users, in 2013 for $1.15B. With a fleet of already operating autonomous vehicles, Google stands to leverage its Waze transit data in big ways for an autonomous taxi service that could hit companies like Uber and Lyft hard.

That $0.54 rate for the Carpool rides is also significant because it won't lead to the same insurance-scrutiny that has plagued other ridesharing companies:

Waze Carpool’s $0.54 rate is also important from a regulatory standpoint. As Waze explains, car insurance policies in states including California typically cover “not for profit, share-the-expense carpooling.” By framing its operations that way, Waze Carpool may be able to avoid the scrutiny around insurance coverage that has at times sidelined Uber and Lyft.

Related on Archinect:

Is Waze to blame for heavy traffic on L.A. residential side streets?

2015-11-24T15:00:00-05:00

Waze sometimes sends drivers through little-used side streets such as Cody Road [in Sherman Oaks, Calif]...Some people try to beat Waze at its own game by sending misinformation about traffic jams and accidents so it will steer commuters elsewhere. Others log in and leave their devices in their cars, hoping Waze will interpret that as a traffic standstill and suggest alternate routes.

More about Waze on Archinect:

Throwback Throughway: when GPS fails, these gorgeous "mental maps" help you navigate

Waze takes on the ride-sharing market with new carpooling app

Arnold Schwarzenegger voices Waze app

Waze and its new uneasy bedfellows

Waze takes on the ride-sharing market with new carpooling app

2015-07-08T17:26:00-04:00

RideWith is a spinoff of the Google-owned Israeli traffic app Waze, and is designed to help users meet up with a driver who has a similar commute. In the interest of time, money and potentially the environment, passengers can pay drivers who are already taking similar routes. [...] Drivers using RideWith are only allowed to make two trips a day — intended to be the commute to and from work — and therefore wouldn’t be able to use the app for any notable revenue.

Arnold Schwarzenegger voices Waze app

2015-06-16T16:15:00-04:00

Starting Monday, drivers around the world could soon be directed by a familiar Austrian-accented voice telling them: "I'm a Terminator Cyberdyne Systems Model 101, and you're coming with me." It's Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor and former California governor, who is lending his persona as the famed Terminator from the movie franchise to the community-based traffic and navigation app Waze.

Waze and its new uneasy bedfellows

2015-06-08T14:44:00-04:00

The L.A.-Waze partnership is, at least in theory, an initial step toward allowing the city’s planners and engineers to regain a healthier role in mediating the kinds of longstanding cross-town conflicts that Waze has renewed and amplified. Whether the deal will help to resolve fundamental long-term issues related to the city’s growth and inadequate infrastructure is another matter.