AUTOMOTIVE | New features on Waze make road experience better
Every month, more than 140 million Wazers all over the world contribute to the community by driving over 36 billion kilometers.
While traffic may not be at regular levels yet, Waze wants to be ready to assist drivers when they eventually get back on the road. Its new feature would anticipate and respond to users’ specific needs, enabling them to go on safer, less stressful trips.
Planning trips with ease
Before hitting the road, Wazers would be able to know what to expect and adjust plans accordingly, and this is made possible as Waze would connect drivers’ needs and preferences with useful information shared by the Waze community.
Trip Suggestions
Trip Suggestions provide a visual overview of everything a driver needs to know minutes or hours before leaving, such as the time the trip would take and the traffic along the way. Based on trips taken in the past or recently driven to, Waze would also show personalized recommendations for drivers. This new feature would help drivers anticipate what is happening on the roads, adjust plans when there is still time to make changes and, where possible, get a little time back.
Recent Locations
Recent Locations show drivers the destinations they recently drove to. They are conveniently displayed “front and center” when drivers open the Waze app. With just one tap, drivers could start navigating.
Live Map save to app
Millions of Waze users viewing their upcoming journey each month on the Live Map using its real-time data would now be able to save their itinerary directly to their Waze app on their Android or iOS device with a single click. This provides a more seamless experience across platforms, and simplifies the process of planning a drive by finding the best route and time to leave, before even getting into the car.
Rely on Waze on every trip
Drivers could take advantage of Waze’s real-time hyperlocal expertise to inform how they drive, navigate and experience the roads.
Quick search
Location badges now appear under the search bar to help surface locations offering drive-through or curbside pickup even faster. In addition to finding the nearest gas station or parking lot along your route, drivers could now search other locations that reinforce social distancing too, to help support local businesses.
Lane Guidance
Lane Guidance tells drivers which lane to be in, when merging or exiting a stretch of freeway or highway. Fewer mistakes means less stress and safer driving, plus the added bonus of drivers keeping their original arrival time.
ETA improvements
With more people working from home, Waze has had to keep up with drivers’ ever-changing routines, while also supporting essential workers who have been dedicated to keeping essential locations open and functioning. Estimated time of arrival (ETA) calculations in areas where there are fewer drivers have been improved, which has been especially important in 2020 as it has been harder than ever to predict the changing flow of traffic patterns.
Batman theme
For some added fun, drivers could activate the Batman experience on Waze and choose the side of DC superhero or supervillain by selecting the iconic voice of Batman (Kevin Conroy) or The Riddler (Wally Wingert) to guide them on their own adventures.
