Google’s Waze is addition some quality of life navigation features in the coming weeks and months. The new options can help you find parking garages (and learn how much they’ll cost), warn you when the speed limit is about to drop, and guide you through roundabouts.
In partnership with parking app Flash, Waze will soon provide information about nearby parking lots. It can show you prices whether it’s indoor or outdoor, wheelchair access options, valet services and EV charging stations. Waze says you can also reserve a parking space from the app. The feature will be rolled out “in the coming weeks.”
The Flash app only gets an average of 1.5 out of 5 stars on App Store and 2.2 out of 5 on Game store. (Many customers complained about its bugs and unreliable scanning of parking kiosks.) Let’s hope the Waze integration doesn’t reproduce the obvious rough spots of the new partner’s app.
The Waze app will also notify you when the speed limit is about to drop. Once the feature is launched this month, the navigation screen will display a speed limit sign at the point on the road where it will slow down, giving you time to prepare. A warning at the bottom of the screen will count how many feet the speed reduction is. (The app won’t show when speed limits are about to increase, presumably to avoid encouraging people to hit it and get a head start.)
Waze will soon give you more information about your favorite routes to places you travel to frequently, like home, work, or the coffee shops you frequent. From this month, when you start navigation, the app will compare your favorite routes with the fastest ones. It will use live traffic updates to compare ETA estimates and help you decide if your favorite trail is too backup to be worth it.
Going through roundabouts will also be easier. When you approach a roundabout, Waze will help you know where to enter, which lanes to use and where to exit. The feature arrives on Android this month, but iPhone owners will have to wait until “later this year.”
Building on the app’s community approach, another new feature will warn you of impending dangers. These include sharp turns, speed bumps and toll booths. This “navigate like a local” feature will be coming to Android and iOS this month.
Finally, Waze now notifies you when emergency vehicles have stopped in front of you. As you navigate, an emergency icon will stand on the virtual road ahead along with a warning and a countdown (measured in feet) as you approach it. This is the only new feature that Waze says is available now (in the US, Canada, France, Mexico and France) for Android and iOS. The feature will support more countries soon.
https://www.engadget.com/waze-will-soon-help-you-find-parking-garages-and-zip-through-roundabouts-180340271.html?src=rss