MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 28, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- At http://www.drijo.com, an auction-based website was published, which offers ride-sharing and car-pooling by making partial use of Google Maps(tm) API technology.

Ride-sharing and car-pooling are phenomena similar to the second-hand product market. A great majority of people are doing it to save cost/earn some extra money, use High Occupancy Vehicle lanes, etc.

It is first and foremost a social status and practicality/matching issue to find the right person to share a ride with.

Regarding that dilemma, eBay(tm) overcame three issues in the product market: to have value attributed to seemingly worthless second-hand stuff (which would be the empty seats in ride-sharing), to make it socially acceptable to buy second-hand in many industrialized countries and generally it is socially accepted to save costs with eBay(tm).

Based visually on Google Maps(tm) API, DriJo offers a simple method to overlay and compare routes of drivers and potential passengers. ``Using an auction-based method similar to other popular auction sites should,'' according to the CEO Walter Demmelhuber, ``animate more drivers to offer rides, especially on highly demanded routes.''

DriJo, with its auction-based ride-sharing model, assures that:

 * supply and demand of routes based on the starting and arrival
   address are overlaid and compared automatically and shown on maps
   or satellite pictures,
 * based on the Google Maps(tm) database, practically all addresses,
   even remote ones in the countryside, can be found -- similarly to
   navigation devices,
 * the cost of ride-sharing between driver and passenger is determined
   by supply and demand via an auction,
 * registration of all users gives additional security,
 * feedback after traveling by both driver and passenger increases the
   trustworthiness of both of them.

``With this matching system, the user can overlay shorter passenger-requests with longer driver-routes,'' according to the CTO Peter Sabalat, ``and the driver can even define an optional pick-up / drop-off zone along the route to be more attractive to potential passengers.''

Paid ride-sharing is popular in both the U.S. and Europe. In the primary countries in Europe and U.S./Canada, it is estimated to be well over 50,000 trips/day.

On a general basis the market of ride-sharing agencies is mainly distributed between many small, ad-based institutions. As a consequence, it is very difficult to find regional and long-distance trips in one agency. Additionally these companies generate their own databases which in practically all cases do not include addresses or smaller towns.

DriJo is presently owner-financed and focuses via its patented technology and the innovative business model on the redefinition of the ride-sharing market.

         DriJo
         Dr. Walter Demmelhuber, CEO
         Peter Sabalat, CEO
         +1-650-276-0383