I keep hearing Waze as a replacement for OnStar or the Nav system on our cars. I've never had an issue with the NAV system that I couldn't overcome with the correct settings. I'm always open to "stuff" so, talk Waze to me. Do you use the Free version or the "Premium". It seems the Premium comes with traffic and HUD.

So, sell me or I continue with my NAV and OnStar.

It appears that the Premium North American + Traffic is $27.99 (Lifetime)



Elmer

 

No matter what people say, you really need a passenger to manage Waze properly. If you're not going to report stuff, then it's good, but giving traffic conditions and popo locations back to Waze requires too much driver attention to do alone.

 

So it gives traffic and police locations via manual entries of other users? I get traffic now via cameras and sensors in/on the highway and no manual input is necessary. As far as police locations? Hell, they move.

Elmer

 

Waze is social networking for traffic and other road conditions including police and red light cameras. It's only as good as the people hitting the report button on those things. If you live in a low population area with not many Waze users, there won't be much feedback. I live near San Francisco, so there are tons of reports that show up on my map.

I find the traffic and directions on Waze really good, plus inputting a destination is really easy. Ymmv on that one I suppose, plus the trade off is information and how much you are comfortable sharing with the app. I like Waze, it's a really slick app.

 

I agree. In a recent trip I tried to use Waze instead of my onboard navigation system. I like the fact that it showed problem locations, but in order to report any situations myself, I found that it was a distraction. I have not tried the premium edition so I'm not sure how valuable the traffic information would be. Norm

 

You do know you can enable it so that you wave in front of your phone and can give it a report by voice. Works great.

 

One benefit about waze no one mentions: the directions.

I'm not sure what it is, but all GPS apps will direct you to main streets, no matter how busy or how many red lights.

Not waze. Waze causes a lot of angst in some neighborhoods because it will direct you to the best route regardless of main streets; i.e., it will short cut you right through residential streets. Some people are so annoyed by it, that they will falsify reports about traffic.

So if you're in a hurry, you should use waze.

Sadly, I use apple car play maps, the built in nav and waze depending on the situation. Often I'll use 2 options at the same time. All of them have significant advantages and disadvantages.

 

Built-in navigation is dated. In an area with decent population, WAZE works amazingly well. I've been using it for probably 3 years on my daily interstate commutes, and I won't drive without it. I've never paid for it, so I don't know what the premium version is all about.

In my area, if law enforcement is sitting stationary, as they often do where I drive, there's about a 95% chance someone has reported it on WAZE, which gives me about a half mile notice to check my speed. About 30% of LEO alerts turn out to be "false"'as the officer has already pulled over someone else and is a little further down the road. It just takes one button push to clean up the alert for drivers behind me.

WAZE reports "object on road" information also. This has saved me a number of times on congested interstates as I have about a half mile warning to slow down and create additional maneuvering room to avoid damage to my car from shrapnel from blown-out tires, etc.

On congested local roads in town, WAZE is less useful for extra features, but still works great for navigation.

Again - I will not drive on the interstate without it. I have a daily 75 mile round trip to make, and WAZE enables me to do it more safely.

Try the free version for a couple of weeks. There's no real downside.

 

Do you appreciate it when opposite direction drivers flash their headlights to warn you of a speed trap ahead? If you do, you'll love WAZE, as it's a more subtle, yet effective way of doing the same thing....plus has tons of other useful information and navigation.

I can't believe carmakers are still putting navigation systems in care anymore. They're as obsolete as 8-track players. Notice how in the Corvette navigation isn't a stand-alone option? You have to take it if you want an upgraded interior.

 

I disagree, but it depends on the driver and conditions.

You can tap the Police icon, don't tap Send, and it will put an icon on the side of the screen moving in and out. Once you spot a LEO, tap it again and press Send and it will post it at that time and place. When running no on the highway I always keep one staged so that I can help the community.

In heavy traffic, there is always an opportunity to tap the flow report to report heavy or stopped traffic without risking an accident - a few quick taps.

As for hazards, I don't report vehicles on the shoulder unless they're in traffic, but i will try to report objects in the roadway if possible.

YMMV

 

It's easier to use WAZE, than to select an album to play using the infotainment screen.

I have no use for CarPlay because it won't work with WAZE.

 

Yes, they move, but it also lets other drivers tap a thumbs up or down to validate... Thumb down removes the icon.

When traveling on the highway, I find it useful regardless whether it maps the precise spot, or gives an indication that a LEO may be prowling the area - it puts me on a higher alert.

I myself find it extremely useful.

However, I also often use my onboard NAV in conjunction with Waze.

 

I find Waze to be childish and often inaccurate. Reports of accidents and police are very often not correct or just not useful at all. You get a false sense of security that the community is reporting the police when in actually police move and are often not there when I get there.

As for HUD - no unit aside from MyLink does the HUD. I don't think GM has ever even published the API of how to interact with the HUD so how could Waze do anything with it? Indeed, Waze is not even connected to the car - save for perhaps bluetooth for turn by turn. And I know that bluetooth has absolutely no way to control the HUD. I had had hopes for Android Auto, seeing as how they are physically connected and it actually controls the 8" screen, might crack that nut and give turn by turn in the HUD but alas it doesn't. Again, I don't think that GM published the API so nobody does it.

 

I think you guys are missing the point about waze, or smartphone navigation in general. It's not about crowdsourced incidents, that's a very small part of the value prop. I hardly ever report incidents, but here's why I still use waze everyday and also why I haven't used the inbuilt car nav in my last 3 cars more than a handful of times (car navigation units are a thing of the 20th century).

• Traffic optimized routing. Different smartphone apps all do traffic routing way better than car's system, and waze is the best of them all (google bought Waze last year and integrated some of its traffic algorithms into google maps). And waze's routing isn't dependent on user reported incidents. It uses data from cell phone towers to run its traffic algorithms. Its not just about the app giving you directions, its about the app guiding you away from traffic and getting you to your destination faster and with less stress. That's why people including me use waze or other apps even on daily commutes.
• Integration with my calendar. Waze integrates with google calendar, reads ahead on my appointments for the day, and will give me notifications saying "leave by 6:27 to make your 7 PM appointment" and again, it estimates ETA by analyzing traffic patterns. Its invaluable, and I can't live without this feature. I find Waze to be pretty accurate in its predictions.
• Ease of searching for POIs. Car nav systems have no future because of this reason alone. Instead of messing around with country - state - city - street bs on an unresponsive touch screen, you pull up waze or google maps, start typing the name of the place or business you intend to go to, the app will finish it for you and you will be on your way in less than 10 seconds. Navigating someplace is now about just finding the place, not about entering and transcribing the address.
• Waze or any other smartphone app also makes "map updates" a thing of the 20th century. I remember you had to pay for a DVD to update the maps and POIs stored in your car's nav system. Smartphone maps are always current, never need updating.
• Pre-planning a route. Google maps has a feature now that lets you add waypoints and pre-plan your entire route ahead of time. I am not sure if car systems can do it or not, I haven't bothered checking. But it's a nice feature when it's a sunday afternoon cruise and you want to make a few pre-determined stops.

 

I wonder where you got your data for that claim of 95%. I hear 83% of all figures are made up on the spot!

Hmmm... 95% + 30%... well I used to be good at math and to me that doesn't add up. Also, I'm not convinced that it takes just one person to either report a cop or report the cop is not there in order for Waze to update the map for everybody. Are you sure if I was say 1/2 a mile behind you and you reported "No cop here" that I would see that updated on my Waze immediately? By the time I caught up with you? Or do some number of reports need to agree? And what is the latency on map updates?

As I said, I find Waze's reporting to be highly inaccurate so much so that I personally would not rely on it and really don't want to be driving around paranoid all the time.

 

I use goggle maps with the traffic turn on. Waze is a backup. I don't like the 'view ahead' in waze as much as goggle maps, plus it is easier to pan around on goggle maps. Don't use any of my cars gps's.

 

I use Google Maps with Android Auto. I find it's routing to be the best. Is that because of Waze integration? I don't know, it always seemed to be good even before Google bought Waze. On one trip down to LA from the Bay Area on 101 it had me going off into all the farmlands of Gilroy - but I could see how it was routing me to avoid traffic.

I often wonder how Google gets the info which it then uses to change the road color from blue (meaning all clear) to orange (less clear) to red (congested). I'll be on a side street and coming up to a light with light traffic but there are 4 or 5 cars at the light and Google Maps makes the road red for about that 1/4 mile. How does it know that right now that small portion of a secluded road has a number of cars? Are they all using Maps (or Waze)?

So does Android Auto. Often I'll get in my car and there's a big card there saying 'Hey are you going to so and so event' and I just push it and viola directions appear.

Plus I can go to Google Maps on my laptop, find my location (like going to some remote hiking trail) and click on send it to my phone. Then when I connect the phone to AA in the car... viola - driving directions.

You can even be navigating a route and ask Google for say McDonalds. Google Maps will do a little search and show you the McDonalds that are nearby. Select one of them and it'll add it as a stop. Nice.

(Can't do multiple waypoints however).

Oh and note, I noticed the other day that with AA plugged in you cannot use both Google Maps and the MyLink Nav. If you switch to MyLink Nav (exit AA and use the regular old MyLink Nav) then go back into AA you'll see whatever route you used to have in AA is now no longer there. If you program Google Maps on a route (i.e. "Let's go home") then switch to MyLink Nav, that route will be canceled. So you can't run both systems sort of side by side. However... When navigating in Google Maps in AA you will get popups from MyLink Nav with things like "Traffic ahead". Not sure if I like that. I mean if you say View you drop out of AA and need to get back in later. Plus I laugh when MyLink Nav is saying Traffic ahead and Google Maps has already routed me around it.

Indeed, Google Maps voice recognition is the best. Long press the call button to activate voice recognition on AA and say "Let's go home". Google Maps in the AA integration recently changed to say "You're home is <x> minutes and there is <y> traffic. You should reach your destination by <z>". Nice little update there with more to come for sure.

 

Forgive me, as I'm busy with something else and couldn't find a better way of wording what I wrote. I did write the word "about" in front of my 95% estimate. That is my experience, though I live in an area with heavily-traveled major interstates. I did write that users who live in less traveled areas would find WAZE less useful in terms of crowdsourced information.

What I meant was, if there's a LEO sitting and lasering traffic in my area, there's about a 95% chance someone ahead of me has reported it and I'll know about it in time to check my speed.

That doesn't mean that 95% of the reports are accurate by the time I get there. From my experience, in the environment in which I operate, about 30% of the alerts will be "false" by the time I get there.

These are two independent scenarios.

No countermeasure is 100% effective. It's all about layers of protection, and driving intelligently. More information is generally better than less information. I'll admit bad information is often worse than no information, but that hasn't been my experience with WAZE.

 

Waze is pretty amazing. I agree on the passenger for incident reporting. We went to Disney after Thanksgiving and ended up coming home on the Sunday after when everyone is on the road. Waze directed us around a stopped I75 in a couple places and we would have spent several more hours on the road without it. On star / Chevy navigation didn't report crap

 

WAZE for navigation is fine, but would not rely on it 100% for speed traps.