Waze, Google’s other navigation app, has announced a batch of updates this week that will make it “less chatty,” encourage drivers to talk more and personalize your most frequently driven routes. In select markets, motorcycle riders will see bespoke pathfinding specific to two-wheeled travel, and (like all things Google these days) it’s all underpinned by a Gemini-powered artificial intelligence update that also aims to improve voice destination search and map reporting.
Acquired in 2013, Waze exists alongside Google Maps, sharing Google’s underlying map data and increasingly cross-pollinating features. Both, for example, feature increasing levels of Gemini integration.
However, driving-focused Waze lacks Maps’ transit and walking modes. Overlap like this is usually a one-way ticket to the Google Graveyard, but Waze distinguishes itself from its step-sibling by focusing on crowdsourced, real-time reports (like accidents, speed traps, road hazards and fuel prices), rather than just aggregated traffic data. This makes Waze an interesting alternative for drivers who value the human-reported detail that Google Maps typically doesn’t surface.
Less chatty navigation
All that extra detail can get a bit annoying when you’re just trying to focus on a good playlist or podcast, which is where Waze’s new “less chatty” mode comes in. This toggle reduces the frequency and length of the app’s voice prompts without disabling them outright.
Waze says that critical alerts for hazards, turns and lane changes will still come through, just less often. The result, ideally, falls somewhere between having my audiobook interrupted for every upcoming speed camera and no spoken alerts at all.
The new updates to the Waze app for Android and iOS are rolling out this week.
Personalized navigation
Meanwhile, Waze’s new personalized navigation option layers a driver’s own trip history and habits onto Waze’s existing map and traffic data-crunching. For example, if I consistently choose surface streets over a particular stretch of highway, Waze will start showing that route first rather than whatever its algorithm considers optimal.
There’s underlying intelligence to balance route personalization with the need to avoid road closures and traffic jams, but the promise is less about struggling with constant recalculations and more about focusing on the route and the road.
If the idea of Waze learning your habits gives you the heebie-jeebies, you can turn this personalization off in settings.
Gemini voice search and reporting
Both the less chatty mode and personalized nav are built on the Gemini integration that Waze has been layering into the app over the past year. The same underlying tech now also powers the app’s updated voice interactions. Conversational reporting is being updated to enable map-update suggestions, such as road closures and outdated addresses, for human map editors to verify. Drivers using the new Gemini destination search will be able to speak in natural language, like “find me a coffee shop that’s open right now” or “find me a gas station nearby with the lowest prices” to initiate trips via voice.
The aforementioned features are rolling out in the US and globally across Android and iOS versions of the Waze app on Monday, though Gemini destination search will require the app’s beta version.
Outside the US, Waze is also adding a new AI routing system built specifically for motorcycle riders. This bespoke routing method accounts for narrower streets and alerts to motorcycle-specific hazards such as potholes, speed bumps, raised crosswalks and shoulder endings that a car-focused routing algorithm might not flag. It’s rolling out now in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru and the Philippines. Waze says more countries are on the way, but has given no timeline for US availability.
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