Uber Could Finally Make Smartphone Carpools Work

When Uber started up New York City in 2011, I wrote a short piece comparing it with another seemingly innovative transportation startup called Weeels. Uber seemed like a clever way for people to hire expensive black cars, while Weeels had an app offering to match you with other riders headed in the same direction, splitting the cost of a cab. I presciently declared Weeels the more ambitious of the two startups—with one important caveat about its lack of enough users to make the carpooling service functional.