Waze app displayed on a phone screen. Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Google announced a new AI feature for its community-driven navigation app to improve road safety. The feature will provide alerts to drivers about crash-prone roads in advance so they can plan ahead. Waze was formerly known as FreeMap Israel and acquired by Google for $1.3 billion in 2013. Google rolled out a new AI feature on its community-driven navigation app Waze which will alert drivers about crash-prone roads in advance in an effort to improve road safety, it announced in a Tuesday blog post.
Waze, formerly known as FreeMap Israel, was founded in 2006 and then acquired by Google for $1.3 billion in 2013. It’s a community-focused traffic and navigation app that provides real-time updates about hazards, accidents, speed cameras, and weather conditions based on data supplied by drivers.
Its latest "crash history alerts" feature uses AI and reports from other drivers who use Waze to combine historical crash data and key information about a route such as its usual traffic levels or whether it’s a highway or local road.
If the route has a history of accidents, the driver will be warned in advance, and before they reach that part of their journey so they can plan ahead.
However, Waze, won’t show as many alerts on roads drivers regularly navigate, saying the extra alerts could pose a distraction.
Waze is focused on social interactions between drivers and allows users to chat directly with their friends, comment on road incidents on the map, and even lets you connect to music streaming accounts.
The app lets users earn points and graduate different levels from Waze baby, Wazer, Waze Knight, and Waze Royalty.
Road traffic crashes are a major cause of death globally and in the US, according to the CDC. Almost 3,700 people are killed everyday in crashes involving vehicles like cars, buses, and motorcycle and its the eighth leading cause of death in the world.
Read the original article on Business Insider
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