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Waze expands it carpooling experiment across California
Alphabet's Waze Rider carpool offering is expanding its service area in California. Now, no matter where you are in the Golden State, you'll be able to grab a ride, TechCrunch reports. Prior to this, it was limited to cities in the Bay area and Israel. As we've previously written, Waze Rider isn't supposed to compete directly against ride-hailing platforms.
Narrate your own commute with Waze Voice Recorder
You think you're better at giving directions than John Cleese and Arnold Schwarzenegger? Well now's your chance to prove it with the "Waze Voice Recorder". Waze debuted the new feature on Monday, though it's currently only available on Android and there's no word on when it will be ported to iOS.
Waze's traffic data could help emergency services save lives
Soon, Waze data will not only help drivers avoid accidents, but help emergency responders identify them as they happen. The Google-owned navigation service has partnered with the European Emergency Number Association (EENA) to anonymously share data that will help police, ambulance and fire services detect and respond to incidents in real-time, potentially saving lives in the process.
Waze's 'Order Ahead' is a quicker way to grab food on the go
Waze is a valuable travel buddy because of the many ways it can assist you on the road. The navigation app helps drivers avoid traffic, it integrates with Spotify, and it has a growing ride-sharing platform. In an effort to aid users in all commute-related endeavors, drivers can now place a Dunkin' Donuts order right from the Waze app.
Spotify integrates itself into Waze (and vice-versa)
Drivers use their smartphone for both navigation and music, so why not put the two together? Waze and Spotify have announced that they've done just that: You can now navigate with Waze within Spotify and access Spotify playlists from Waze. After you set up a playlist, it will automatically play when you start your journey, while letting you "easily" change songs. At the same time, you can browse playlists (and switch from one app to the other) when your vehicle is at a full stop.
Google's ride-sharing platform is expanding beyond the Bay Area
After successful tests of its casual carpool service in the Bay Area and Tel Aviv, Alphabet's combination navigation app and ride-sharing platform Waze is ready to expand beyond its first two test markets. According to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, the Waze Rider companion app will launch new service in "several US cities" as well as Latin America over the next few months.
Google's ride-sharing platform is now live in San Francisco
Waze Rider, the ride-sharing version of the popular Google-owned navigation app, is now open to the general public in the Bay Area. After several months in private beta, the Wall Street Journal reports that Google is ready to open up its casual carpool competitor to Uber and Lyft.
Report: Google is turning Waze into a ride-sharing platform
According to the Wall Street Journal, Google is planning to launch a carpool-based ride-sharing service using Waze in the Bay Area. The new feature would connect drivers and potential passengers going along the same route via the navigation app.
Waze will help you avoid traffic jams around big events
Navigation apps like Apple Maps, Google Maps and Waze are good for letting you know when you're approaching a traffic jam. Waze is taking that task a bit further with its new Global Event Partner Program. The company is teaming up with organizers of big events like marathons and pro sports to keep you from experiencing unnecessary delays. Those partners will now be able to use the Waze Closure tool to input any scheduled closures ahead of an event. TechCrunch reports that event organizers will be able to add details like turn restrictions, lane reversals, parking locations for more than 65 million users.
Waze will help you avoid difficult intersections
You know those intersections with no traffic lights and everyone's trying to cross at the same time? Waze calls them "difficult intersections," and the navigation app will help you avoid them altogether, so long as you're in Los Angeles. The app now calculates the best possible route and ETA with as few of them as possible. It could bypass them entirely if there's route that allows you to do that. But if avoiding them will make your commute unbearably long, then Waze could still send you through a few. As the app's announcement post said "The goal of the feature is to reduce the amount of these intersections, not completely eliminate them."
Android Auto will soon run on your phone just like any other app
If you've been itching to take Android Auto for a spin, but don't own a car that's compatible with Google's software, you'll soon be in luck. The company announced at Google I/O that the in-car setup will soon run entirely on your phone while offering the same features as if it were connected to your dash. This means that you'll still be able to use your voice to handle calls, messages, music and navigation, keeping distractions to a minimum.
Waze begins testing new carpooling service in the Bay Area
Google-owned navigation app Waze is bringing their carpool pilot program stateside. The company will test the new Waze Rider app with 25,000 employees at select Bay Area companies who will be able to get a ride to work with the over 700,000 local drivers using Waze.
Waze hack lets creeps track your driving
Waze's community-centric navigation is supposed to help you avoid obstacles that other apps might miss, but that same technology is also creating some serious privacy issues. UC Santa Barbara researchers speaking to Fusion have found an exploit that would let an intruder track your driving in real time. After reverse-engineering Waze's server code, the researchers found that they could create thousands of ghost drivers that monitor the real drivers around them -- they can even create virtual traffic jams. The trick only works when you have the app in the foreground (Waze turned off background location sharing in January) and breaks when you turn on the invisibility mode, but that's not going to be much comfort to drivers running the app non-stop during their commutes.
Waze will warn you when you're speeding
If you drive in unfamiliar areas often enough, you've probably run into situations where you couldn't spot a speed limit sign or were too busy finding your way to notice. However, Waze has some relief in sight: it just started rolling out an alert feature that makes it clear when you're breaking the speed limit on a given street. You can tell it whether or not to sound an alert, and even force the alert to show only when you run over the limit by a set percentage -- helpful for those fast-paced roads where obeying the limit actually makes you a hazard.
Waze warns you about dangerous intersections in big US cities
Most navigation apps can get you from A to B while avoiding traffic snarls, but they rarely give you a feel for how risky the drive might be. Is that intersection a cake walk, or a death trap? Waze thinks it can help. It's now alerting drivers in five big US cities (Boston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington) when they approach intersections with historically high crash and injury rates -- get close to one of these danger zones and you'll get a reminder to drive carefully. This won't do anything to stop other drivers from ruining your day, but it should prepare you for the dangers ahead.
Waze helps you plan future trips based on expected traffic
Traffic can ruin your careful planning for that appointment in the 'burbs, but Waze can help with a feature called "planned drives." After you enter the destination, date and time, it will open a special screen that shows how busy your route will be at a given hour. "This takes into account expected traffic conditions based on smart algorithms, aggregated traffic history and predictive analysis," according to the Google-owned company.
Waze's cleaner and smarter design arrives on Android
Nearly five months after Waze rolled out its 4.0 update to iOS users, the service is finally doing the same for Android. That means the app on Google's platform now features a cleaner and smarter design, making it easier to navigate roads, share destinations and report any issues you may spot during your trip. Waze says this version is all about improving the experience for drivers and, as such, you'll start noticing less clutter on maps, brighter buttons and color-coded pins. As usual, you can grab the update from Google Play.
Waze app leads IDF soldiers into Palestine, conflict erupts
At least one Palestinian man is dead, and another 10 reportedly have been severely wounded, after an Israeli Defense Force truck strayed into the Kalandia Palestine refugee camp on Monday -- reportedly at the direction of the Waze navigation app. Multiple reports state that two members of the IDF's canine unit on an "administrative task" were travelling a road they thought was within the Israeli border. It wasn't, inciting residents who began throwing stones at the truck. When a hurled firebomb set the truck alight, the IDF soldiers ditched the vehicle and ran in different directions. One soldier managed to call for reinforcements. However, the other soldier left his phone in the truck and could not be immediately accounted. In response, the IDF deployed additional IDF ground and air forces to search for him. He was found, unharmed, a few hours later.
Lyft taps Google's Waze maps to make rides more efficient
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.
Waze's maps and traffic app gets a cleaner and smarter design
Waze is one of the most popular maps and traffic apps on iOS and Android. For good reason, too: It's fast, intuitive and, often times, more accurate than the highly rated Google Maps. Today, Waze's making its mobile application even better, thanks to an overhaul designed to offer a cleaner, prettier user interface and quicker access to useful actions. With a single tap, you can now send directions, location or estimated time of arrival to your contacts. You can also get traffic-based reminders, making it easier to get to any destination on time -- as long as your calendar is synced with Waze. Last but not least, this new version of the app "significantly" reduces battery consumption, according to the company; if true, that'll definitely be appreciated by users who rely on the app for their daily commutes or casual trips. The 4.0 update is already available for iOS, while Android's expected to get it "soon."
