I know Google normally do this with paid staff. But they do have a reasonably big volunteer pool too, and I think it's fair to ask about them. I've volunteered for many things before, and I know that often (as in this case, it sounds like) the volunteers do get something non-monetary out of it too. Just seemed worth commenting on, especially as the headline made such a point of how much money it was.
I thought the headline was about how little money it was, not how much. I thought streetview cars were $100k+ and the article was about how the technology costs have fallen.
Obviously hearing the answer is “get a camera loaned for free” was a disappointment.