Photo: Softpedia
Technology is a powerful weapon against the new coronavirus, and unsurprisingly, tech giants across the world update their products with features specifically supposed to counteract the virus outbreak.
Google, for example, has recently updated Waze in specific markets with a new option that guides drivers to the nearest hospitals treating patients infected with the coronavirus.
At this point, the feature is already available in Indonesia, and while Google hasn’t yet announced any release dates for other markets, it makes sense for the search giant to bring it elsewhere too. At the time of writing, there are over 360,000 confirmed cases of infections with the new coronavirus worldwide, with China, Italy, and the United States currently the countries with the biggest number of patients.
How the whole thing works is pretty simple. Whenever drivers use keywords like “COVID” and “coronavirus,” Waze automatically searches its database for the nearest hospital that can accommodate patients infected with the new virus. Waze then provides navigation instructions to help drivers reach the hospital, obviously in the most efficient way because it also stores up-to-date information about road closures.
“Waze is committed to helping drivers stay safe during the COVID-19 outbreak by giving accurate and updated information about road closures, treatment and medical check-up location,” Waze Indonesia country manager Marlin R. Siahaan was quoted as saying by The Jakarta Post.
“If our users experience such symptoms, they are advised to do a medical check-up at nearby hospitals, which can be find using Waze."
Waze is currently one of the most popular navigation apps, not only on Android, but also on iOS. And as a result, many drivers use it behind the wheel on Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, being considered one of the top alternatives to the likes of Google Maps and Apple Maps.
Waze, however, is one efficient weapon against traffic jams in crowded cities, as it uses community reports to generate traffic data and determine the fastest route to a user-defined location.
At this point, the feature is already available in Indonesia, and while Google hasn’t yet announced any release dates for other markets, it makes sense for the search giant to bring it elsewhere too. At the time of writing, there are over 360,000 confirmed cases of infections with the new coronavirus worldwide, with China, Italy, and the United States currently the countries with the biggest number of patients.
How the whole thing works is pretty simple. Whenever drivers use keywords like “COVID” and “coronavirus,” Waze automatically searches its database for the nearest hospital that can accommodate patients infected with the new virus. Waze then provides navigation instructions to help drivers reach the hospital, obviously in the most efficient way because it also stores up-to-date information about road closures.
“Waze is committed to helping drivers stay safe during the COVID-19 outbreak by giving accurate and updated information about road closures, treatment and medical check-up location,” Waze Indonesia country manager Marlin R. Siahaan was quoted as saying by The Jakarta Post.
“If our users experience such symptoms, they are advised to do a medical check-up at nearby hospitals, which can be find using Waze."
Waze is currently one of the most popular navigation apps, not only on Android, but also on iOS. And as a result, many drivers use it behind the wheel on Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, being considered one of the top alternatives to the likes of Google Maps and Apple Maps.
Waze, however, is one efficient weapon against traffic jams in crowded cities, as it uses community reports to generate traffic data and determine the fastest route to a user-defined location.
Google News