Lyft taps Google's Waze maps to make rides more efficient
For passengers, that should lead to shorter wait times.
Looking to keep pace with Uber, Lyft set out to improve the overall experience for both drivers and passengers. Today, the transportation service announced a "first-of-its-kind partnership" with Google's Waze. Using the Waze Transport SDK, Lyft says it'll make its service more efficient for folks offering rides and eager customers looking to secure one. With Waze's real-time route updates, drivers will be matched with another pickup on their way to a destination. This should cut own on wait times once you hail a car in the app.
"As the first and only ridesharing company to incorporate Waze's latest advancements, we can make routing and rides even more efficient, which benefits everyone on the Lyft platform," said the company's VP of business development Oliver Hsiang. "Lyft and Waze share a similar vision for a future with less congestion, and we couldn't be happier to be working with them closely to make that a reality."
Specifically for drivers, Waze will become the default navigation method with a handy Return to Lyft button for easy access to the app's controls. Waze's crowd-sourced traffic updates aim to cut down on congestion, a feature Lyft looks to take full advantage of as it improves its service. The Waze integration is said to happen "in the coming weeks," so you may notice a difference in wait times with the pink moustache soon enough.
