Ride-pooling gets a social makeover with new app from HERE technologies

Individuals can search for rides on commercial taxi and ride-sharing services, as well as public transportation or bike-share programmes

HERE Technologies, the automotive mapping company controlled by three German carmakers, is giving ride-pooling a new twist with an app that makes it easier for friends to share a trip to work, games or concerts.

The app, dubbed SoMo, aims to tap the power of social networks by matching drivers and riders with people they know, rather than at random, according to a statement Monday at the CES technology trade show in Las Vegas. The app also gives individual riders choices like buses, trains and commercial ride-sharing services.

Car-pooling, encouraged by policy makers since the oil shocks of the 1970s, never caught