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Waze Officially Launches a Feature That Everybody Is Already Using

One of the most recent updates for the Google-owned Waze traffic navigation app is alerts for railroad crossings, something that’s considered by many a key safety feature for all drivers out there.
Railroad crossing alert on Waze 1 photo
Photo: reddit
Introduced earlier this year on both iPhone and Android, the support for railroad crossings is now official in Waze, with the Google company explaining that it’s working to bring it to more locations across the world.

Waze has worked together with a series of partners, including Amtrak, to bring the alerts to users.

The feature comes after recommendations from the United States Senate and the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), both of which requested developers of navigation apps to introduce new functionality that would help reduce the number of accidents happening at railroad crossings.

The new alerts are also available on Android Auto and Apple CarPlay and come in the form of a typical notification that’s shown on the screen, along with the distance to the railroad crossing.

These popups are enabled by default in Waze with the following updates, but as Google itself explains, you can very well disable them if you want to stick with the previous alert setup. This is possible from the Waze settings screen, although it goes without saying that you really shouldn’t do this since it’s all supposed to be there for your own safety.

In the meantime, Waze is also gradually releasing Lane Assist to users across the world, while also working on a series of other important improvements that are specific to each platform.

For iPhone users, for example, Waze is preparing CarPlay dashboard support, a feature that’s supposed to enter the beta stage in just a few weeks and then get the go-ahead for production devices in the fall. Google Maps has already been updated with support for the dashboard, so it’s now just a matter of time until the same thing happens for Waze too.
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About the author: Bogdan Popa
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Bogdan keeps an eye on how technology is taking over the car world. His long-term goals are buying an 18-wheeler because he needs more space for his kid’s toys, and convincing Google and Apple that Android Auto and CarPlay deserve at least as much attention as their phones.
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