>Auto insurance policies in many states including California typically allow not for profit, share-the-expense carpooling. Waze Carpool is designed to help riders and drivers share the cost of carpooling on a given ride. It is not designed to allow a driver to make a profit or to earn a salary. Payments to the driver, by the rider, will always be less or equal to the cost of the particular drive, taking account of such factors as gas and vehicle depreciation.
Underscoring that, the WSJ article notes that "Waze’s current pilot charges riders at most 54 cents a mile". This is equal to the federal standard mileage reimbursement rate for 2016 (https://www.irs.gov/uac/newsroom/2016-standard-mileage-rates...). Which suggests they're trying to aim for exactly that, using an established standard for the per-mile cost.
https://www.waze.com/carpool
>Auto insurance policies in many states including California typically allow not for profit, share-the-expense carpooling. Waze Carpool is designed to help riders and drivers share the cost of carpooling on a given ride. It is not designed to allow a driver to make a profit or to earn a salary. Payments to the driver, by the rider, will always be less or equal to the cost of the particular drive, taking account of such factors as gas and vehicle depreciation.