Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution
Waze has received several controversial bugs lately, including a more streamlined reporting experience that no longer includes redundant options.
Another change that happened lately could easily fall into the bug category, though it's unclear if this is an intended change or if the Google-owned company should start looking into a fix.
Earlier this month, shortly after updating Waze, I noticed a change in the way I tell the application to configure a new route. Before the update, when I asked Google Assistant to set navigation to a destination, I always received confirmation. The step is critical because it helps me know for sure that I'm driving to the right destination.
If something didn't work correctly, such as Google Assistant not getting the command correctly or finding more destinations with the same name (such as restaurants), Waze fired up a dedicated screen with the found results to let me pick the address where I want to go.
The update changed this behavior due to what appears to be an attempt to continue this strategy of making Waze more straightforward from one end to the other. When I tell Google Assistant to configure navigation to a destination, it automatically does this to the first result it finds after performing the search. The confirmation step is missing, so I can no longer tell if the application sends me to the right address or not.
To better understand how huge the difference is, imagine you want to go to a certain Burger King restaurant. You can tell Google Assistant to "set navigation to Burger King in Chicago" to use Waze without touch input. Without a confirmation prompt, Google Assistant looks for Burger King restaurants in Chicago and automatically begins navigation – by default, it should get you to the closest location. When confirmation existed, Waze displayed a list of the found Burger Kings, letting you choose one with a tap on the screen.
I originally believed I was the only one encountering the glitch (because that's a thing in the Waze world, where bugs come and go occasionally), but several users on reddit are now reporting the same behavior in their cars.
Someone says it's a bug, and I really hope they're right. If Google wants this to make the intended behavior in Waze, removing the confirmation prompt and automatically starting navigation, using the application with voice commands becomes a huge pain in the neck.
My only workaround now is to open the routes screen and see where Waze is taking me. Otherwise, I'd have to trust the navigation app blindly and hope it gets me to the right address. This is ridiculous, as everybody knows that the tiniest error could get you to the wrong destination, so fingers crossed for the whole thing to be just a bug.
Earlier this month, shortly after updating Waze, I noticed a change in the way I tell the application to configure a new route. Before the update, when I asked Google Assistant to set navigation to a destination, I always received confirmation. The step is critical because it helps me know for sure that I'm driving to the right destination.
If something didn't work correctly, such as Google Assistant not getting the command correctly or finding more destinations with the same name (such as restaurants), Waze fired up a dedicated screen with the found results to let me pick the address where I want to go.
The update changed this behavior due to what appears to be an attempt to continue this strategy of making Waze more straightforward from one end to the other. When I tell Google Assistant to configure navigation to a destination, it automatically does this to the first result it finds after performing the search. The confirmation step is missing, so I can no longer tell if the application sends me to the right address or not.
To better understand how huge the difference is, imagine you want to go to a certain Burger King restaurant. You can tell Google Assistant to "set navigation to Burger King in Chicago" to use Waze without touch input. Without a confirmation prompt, Google Assistant looks for Burger King restaurants in Chicago and automatically begins navigation – by default, it should get you to the closest location. When confirmation existed, Waze displayed a list of the found Burger Kings, letting you choose one with a tap on the screen.
I originally believed I was the only one encountering the glitch (because that's a thing in the Waze world, where bugs come and go occasionally), but several users on reddit are now reporting the same behavior in their cars.
Someone says it's a bug, and I really hope they're right. If Google wants this to make the intended behavior in Waze, removing the confirmation prompt and automatically starting navigation, using the application with voice commands becomes a huge pain in the neck.
My only workaround now is to open the routes screen and see where Waze is taking me. Otherwise, I'd have to trust the navigation app blindly and hope it gets me to the right address. This is ridiculous, as everybody knows that the tiniest error could get you to the wrong destination, so fingers crossed for the whole thing to be just a bug.
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