Ride-hailing app Uber is launching a new carpooling service in Los Angeles Thursday.
UberPool will allow riders on similar routes to share travel and split the fare with strangers.
While only two users can be matched per ride, each can have one person accompany them for a total of four passengers.
San Francisco-based Uber says it could reduce rates for users by about 50 per cent.
Los Angeles is the fourth most congested metro area in the world, according to Inrix, a Kirkland, Wash.-based traffic research firm, with drivers wasting 66 hours in congestion over the past 12 months.
UberPool is already offered in New York, San Francisco and Paris.
The Associated Press contributed to this article
