Waze is introducing new alerts for speed limit changes, toll booths, sharp turns, emergency vehicles, and more. The navigation app will also provide new insights when planning routes or searching for parking. Most of these improvements will arrive on Android and iOS by the end of March 2024.
Sudden changes to the speed limit are all too common. And, when traveling in rural areas, you’re almost guaranteed to encounter deliberate speed traps. Waze hopes to mitigate the problem by alerting drivers before they encounter a reduced speed limit. Even if you can’t see a speed limit sign on the road, you can prepare for a drop in speed by letting off the gas or riding the brake.
Similarly, Waze will provide alerts for speed bumps, toll booths, sharp turns, and incoming emergency vehicles (specifically fire trucks and ambulances). This information is sourced from community members. You’ll be asked to confirm any emergency vehicle alerts that appear onscreen, similar to how police alerts work in the Waze app. However, your city may contribute emergency vehicle data through the Waze for Cities program.
You should also see more detailed instructions when approaching roundabouts with Waze. This is mainly intended for large roundabouts with multiple lanes—instead of highlighting a roundabout and leaving everything up to the driver, Waze will actually explain where to enter and exit the roundabout. Now we just need to teach drivers how roundabouts work!
Finally, Waze will let you see live traffic information for your favorite routes. This may help you plan a new route and reduce congestion on main roads. And, thanks to some help from Flash, the Waze app can now help you find parking. It will tell you if a parking garage is covered, wheelchair accessible, or operated by a valet service. You can even reserve a parking space from the Waze app, though this only works with select garages.
Most of these features will roll out on iOS and Android in a month’s time. However, iOS users won’t get improved roundabout instructions until later this year. Expanded parking garage data, which is currently limited to about 30,000 garages, may also experience a sluggish rollout.
Source: Waze
