Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution
If you're a long-time Waze user, you probably know that the Google-owned company keeps rolling out limited-time packs of improvements, typically as part of a collaboration with a company or celebrity.
It's happening again this week, as Waze has just announced that it worked with Academy Award and Grammy winner Jennifer Hudson for new goodies that are available today for users on Android and iPhone.
Waze says the partnership is supposed to bring Hudson's "calm demeanor and words of empowerment" to drivers, making every minute behind the wheel more relaxing.
While I doubt that'll be the case, considering the horrible traffic we have to deal with at rush hour, Waze hopes the messages the singer and actress will speak in your cabin will make the experience with the app more enjoyable.
For example, when you launch the app, you should hear the application say (using Hudson's voice) something like, "Let’s get started. I'm grateful for a fresh start today. Let's leave our baggage at the curb! Emotionally, I mean. If you have real luggage…you know…bring it."
I don't know about you, but such messages look like a lot of unnecessary words, and I'm sure most people would get tired of them after a few days. I like to keep things quieter in the cabin, but if you're in for a fresh experience with Waze, having Hudson telling you to "Breathe. This is annoying, but we're not gonna give this traffic any power over how we feel," when you face heavy traffic could help.
The update also includes a so-called Unstoppable mood (which others can see on the map when you drive with Waze running on the mobile device or Android Auto or CarPlay) and a custom vehicle icon called JHud's V12.
The voice navigation experience is only available in English, so if you use another language for turn-by-turn guidance, you'll have to change your settings for the Hudson update.
Waze is also getting other, more useful updates. Not long ago, the Google-owned company announced that the application would display warnings for accident-prone roads based on information submitted by users. Waze looks at accident reports and generates statistics that it uses to determine roads with an increased likelihood of collisions. Users will then get warnings as they run the app before approaching the flagged road section, so they have more time to slow down and pay attention to traffic.
The feature is already available on Android and iPhone, though the warnings won't show up unless the application has enough accident data to determine the dangerous road sectors.
Waze typically offers custom vehicle icons, moods, and navigation voices for a limited time, but no information has been provided as to when the Jennifer Hudson update will be pulled.
Waze says the partnership is supposed to bring Hudson's "calm demeanor and words of empowerment" to drivers, making every minute behind the wheel more relaxing.
While I doubt that'll be the case, considering the horrible traffic we have to deal with at rush hour, Waze hopes the messages the singer and actress will speak in your cabin will make the experience with the app more enjoyable.
For example, when you launch the app, you should hear the application say (using Hudson's voice) something like, "Let’s get started. I'm grateful for a fresh start today. Let's leave our baggage at the curb! Emotionally, I mean. If you have real luggage…you know…bring it."
I don't know about you, but such messages look like a lot of unnecessary words, and I'm sure most people would get tired of them after a few days. I like to keep things quieter in the cabin, but if you're in for a fresh experience with Waze, having Hudson telling you to "Breathe. This is annoying, but we're not gonna give this traffic any power over how we feel," when you face heavy traffic could help.
The update also includes a so-called Unstoppable mood (which others can see on the map when you drive with Waze running on the mobile device or Android Auto or CarPlay) and a custom vehicle icon called JHud's V12.
The voice navigation experience is only available in English, so if you use another language for turn-by-turn guidance, you'll have to change your settings for the Hudson update.
Waze is also getting other, more useful updates. Not long ago, the Google-owned company announced that the application would display warnings for accident-prone roads based on information submitted by users. Waze looks at accident reports and generates statistics that it uses to determine roads with an increased likelihood of collisions. Users will then get warnings as they run the app before approaching the flagged road section, so they have more time to slow down and pay attention to traffic.
The feature is already available on Android and iPhone, though the warnings won't show up unless the application has enough accident data to determine the dangerous road sectors.
Waze typically offers custom vehicle icons, moods, and navigation voices for a limited time, but no information has been provided as to when the Jennifer Hudson update will be pulled.
Google News