
Waze for Android Auto - devy
https://blog.waze.com/2017/07/Waze-for-Android-Auto.html
======
Beamer92
Did anybody else find Waze super distracting? I tried it once around Seattle,
on/off the freeway and there was just too much. Like, how can we add all the
distraction of texting-and-driving, but into a navigation app. Bam! Here's
Waze.

I couldn't help but think "Get all this stuff off my screen so I can see where
I'm going" followed by "If I actually paid attention to or used this app it'd
get me killed".

I'm sure if I'd stopped and played with the settings I could've got it to a
manageable level but I really couldn't see the point. You're driving, the
social aspect is a dangerous and unnecessary one. Just get me from Point A to
B the best you can. Back to Google Maps.

~~~
avip
Waze has an eagle-kick level killer feature: The "Commuting time distribution
graph".

This feature is so damn useful I'd still use waze even if it were a bash
script.

~~~
teejmya
How can I access this graph in Waze?

~~~
avip
By choosing "later" instead of "go now" after picking a destination.

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Someone1234
Now that it is complete, I'd love to learn more about the work they had to do
to port it over.

They've been talking about Waze for AA for over a year, so I'm guessing quite
a bit of work had to be done to make this possible. In particular did they
need to make any design changes to Waze to make it easier to use via the AA
interface?

Unfortunately my 2016 vehicle only has mirrorlink v1.1+. Which unlike
mirrorlink 1.0 doesn't actually mirror your phone, instead it is a proprietary
app ecosystem with ten low quality paid for apps, even assuming any smartphone
still supported mirrolink (which almost none do).

I wish there was just a single open standard in the vehicle industry. Toyota
for example is refusing to do AA/Carplay and is starting yet another
"standard" called SmartDeviceLink.

~~~
dawnerd
I'm disappointed Toyota went that route. When I was looking for a new car last
year, CarPlay was a requirement so had to strike them off. Really wanted to
buy another Prius too. It's also keeping me from going tesla too, I'd really
love one but I just can't stand manufacturer developed entertainment systems.
Ended up with a Passat that supports CarPlay, android auto and mirror link.

~~~
Someone1234
That's where Ford gets it right. They too are working on SmartDeviceLink, but
also offer AA and Carplay so consumers have a choice. Toyota are currently
offering nothing usable, and plan to one day only offer SmartDeviceLink.

I love Toyota's vehicles (reliability, looks, features, safety, etc). But when
our Prius V gets replaced, we won't even consider Toyota as their infotainment
units are antiquated, voice recognition terrible, and smartphone connectivity
non-existent.

Toyota reminds me a lot of Nintendo, in the sense that neither company really
grasps how consumer behaviour has changed with smartphones, digital services,
and the cloud. Toyota are literally losing sales due to their obstinance on
this, all to save a few dollars in navigation upgrades.

~~~
sangnoir
> I love Toyota's vehicles (reliability, looks, features, safety, etc). But
> when our Prius V gets replaced, we won't even consider Toyota as their
> infotainment units are antiquated, voice recognition terrible, and
> smartphone connectivity non-existent.

Have you ever considered getting an aftermarket infotainment unit? Choosing a
car by infotainment seems like the tail wagging the dog.

------
surds
First time using Apple CarPlay in Honda Civic 2017, and wow!

It's a annoying system at this point. Unless I want to use it as a glorified,
big interface for podcast control, it is of no use to me. It cannot run
mandatory apps like Google Maps, doesn't have Waze and I am not using Apple
Maps.

Also, I cannot play the podcasts when I am using Google Maps for directions.
The Maps app is unable to give voice directions, the podcast acts up and soon
one or the other of them is stuck.

I gave up and just use a bluetooth based connection to run both of these apps
at the same time.

~~~
rconti
I've got CarPlay in my 2016 Golf and it's useless. Why on earth I would want
my car to take over the full functionality of my phone is beyond me. The only
potential advantage would be running Apple Maps on my in-dash screen if I
didn't have a Nav system already, but I do. And frankly, I'd rather just clip
my phone to the dash than have all phone controls taken over by my car.

From the folks that use Android Auto with the car, many of the frustrations
seem the same. It seems slightly better from a functionality standpoint, but
less stable.

Waze may be the game changer. If only I could buy a cheap android phone and
add it to my data plan without paying a ton of money extra each month...

~~~
SystemOut
So I have none of those frustrations as a 2016 GTI owner. Google Maps is
wayyyy better than the built-in nav. If I searched for an address on my phone
or even my laptop the address is already in my list of recent addresses in
Maps and I don't have to even voice search for it. Although voice searching
rocks and I dread having to enter an address in my wife's Odyssey nav
interface through their knob interface. Then there is traffic routing which is
also way better than what comes with the built-in nav. I can voice search and
call a business from the same interface while I'm en-route as well.

I do wish that they would add the ability to have a real weather app in the
ecosystem. After moving from the west coast to the midwest where they actually
have real weather that can be spotty and fast moving it'd be really nice to be
able to pull up an up-to-date weather radar view to see what's coming at me.

Now, there are the bugs....such as occasionally when I call someone it
switches to the speaker on my phone vs. my car which is really annoying. It
used to crash on a semi-occasional basis but I haven't seen that since I
upgraded to a Pixel. Occasionally I do have to reboot the phone when it fails
to connect. That is probably the most annoying one.

~~~
rconti
Huh. I really like the built-in nav. I particularly like having the turn-by-
turn in the instrument cluster display, and the ETA across the top of the head
unit screen, etc. Though as an iOS user I don't have the option of Google Maps
anyway.

------
jdc0589
Too bad Toyota is still putting frickin Entune in their cars with no Android
Auto or CarPlay support.

I wouldn't be _quite_ as annoyed by it if the damn navigation wasn't missing
the address I need to enter damn near 50% of the time (in major cities too, in
a 2016 model year car). One day I noticed they had a mobile app and assumed
there'd be some easier way to enter navigation addresses from contacts, google
maps, etc.. but no...its barely even functional.

But hey, I can check my stocks. so there's that?

 _Edit_ : I went on a little rant tangent there... Great work Waze team. I
can't wait to be able to use this.

~~~
jclardy
Mazda owner here. Still waiting for they mythical CarPlay/Android auto update
that will supposedly come to 2014 and up models. They are using the same
infotainment system in 2017 models so I'm still holding out hope.

~~~
tacomonstrous
I got to try out Android Auto on a rental Ford Focus last week and now I can't
drive my 2015 Mazda 3 without hating it a little.

I'm sure you know that there is an unofficial Android Auto installation
available on certain Mazda forums. Unfortunately, they still haven't managed
to fix a serious issue with Bluetooth calling.

~~~
joezydeco
But tread lightly. Mazda has caught on to the AIO/tweaker scripts and are
invalidating warranties on the Connect units if they have been modified.

------
nxsynonym
I stopped using Waze as soon as they disabled the ability to set Location
Tracking to "Only when using".

There's no reason it should be all or nothing.

~~~
Shebanator
I'd prefer they give you a choice, but a big part of the Waze concept was that
it was a social thing - you keep it on while driving so other people on the
same road know how much traffic there is, you report hazards, etc. If you only
use it when you are actively navigating then you aren't a true member of their
community. (Note that I'm not advocating here one way or the other, just
explaining their concept. I'm well aware of the privacy issues.)

~~~
Jtsummers
Perhaps, but it absolutely wrecked my battery life when I didn't kill the Waze
app the other day after arriving at my destination. I wasn't moving, but my
battery went from ~90% to ~40% in the span of a movie: in my pocket, with the
display off.

I care very slightly about the privacy implications (I'm already letting them
track me sometimes so I can't be _that_ concerned). What bothers me is that it
continued to drain my battery to the point that my phone would have been dead
before I got back to my car to head home.

~~~
mulmen
I used Waze during my commute a couple months ago. I didn't look at my phone
before lunch. When I went to look up what food was in my area that day my
phone was already prompting for low power mode. Plugged in to my car my phone
battery only maintains charge with Waze running.

Google/Apple maps do not seem to have this problem.

------
tiffanyh
What the difference between Waze & Google Maps.

Google owns both and don't they share data on the backend between the two apps
(e.g. Traffic data, etc)

~~~
vgrafe
In my use case, stop light cameras and speed cameras positions. There is an
obnoxious grid around DC/Maryland that costs me around $300/year in tickets.
To the "why don't you go slower then" crowd - believe it or not, I drive
carefully. Aside of the eventual speeding, silly situations like being half-
way on the wrong lane while passing a green light can cost you $150 here.

~~~
LeifCarrotson
> silly situations like being half-way on the wrong lane while passing a green
> light

You're not supposed to change lanes in an intersection. It's confusing to
people trying to turn and figure out what lane you're in. This is why they
fine that activity.

~~~
karthikb
Not the gp, but there are situations where that kind of activity is absolutely
necessary. Think about driving behind an Uber that stops in the right lane
immediately after clearing the intersection, then puts their hazard lights on
to wait for a passenger. Your options are either (1) stop behind the Uber,
potentially blocking the crosswalk and the intersection when the light
changes, or (2) make a lane change in the middle of the intersection and pass
the stopped Uber.

~~~
true_religion
I thought this scenario is about changing lanes _within_ the intersection, as
opposed to just outside of it where you could potentially block the crosswalk?

If I had enough space to get into the crosswalk, I'd do so to hopefully nudge
the Uber along where I can safely make a lane change on the actual street. If
the Uber doesn't get nudged along and there's no other legal way to move...
then I'm "stuck in traffic" quite literally.

It's not absolutely necessary to avoid traffic by breaking traffic laws.

In the DC metro area, lots of times traffic is created by exactly the same
scenario. I don't feel bad about it; the root cause was the Uber driver or
more traffic up ahead combined with the limitations of human response time.

~~~
karthikb
If you're following at a distance, you might see the Uber stop before you
enter the crosswalk. The problem with nudging into the crosswalk is that when
the light changes, you're now forcing pedestrians out into the lanes which
increases the chances that they get hit by a car.

Blocking the crosswalk is also a traffic violation. In the Uber scenario I
presented, it's really not a question about if you want to break a law, it's
which law would you rather break.

~~~
true_religion
> Blocking the crosswalk is also a traffic violation.

"Except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic..."

Washington State Law. RCW 46.61.570.
[https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.61.570](https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.61.570)

Your mileage may vary though depending on your legal jurisdiction, but
lawmakers generally do not write 'average' laws to be unreasonable in eyes of
the average person.

What is "supposed" to happen in lawmakers eyes, is that traffic grinds to a
halt. Pedestrians stop crossing the road at that particular point and thus
don't get hit by cars, and either the Uber driver intentionally causing all
these hardships moves or gets ticketed.

Unless crossing the road, or moving around traffic is a matter of life or
death ... no one is supposed to break the law and _everyone_ is supposed to be
temporarily inconvenienced. Just because someone else broke the law doesn't
give the next people rights to break the law in order to ease their
convenience.

~~~
jessaustin
Do you really think that exception would allow a driver to avoid a fine?
Without going to traffic court and discovering that the judge is a close
relative?

~~~
true_religion
The answer depends on how corrupt your local law enforcement is...

------
jcastro
I've been beta testing this on my Ford Focus with Android Auto. It's a nice
system, but it does make me wish that they made a screenless little android
auto device I can leave in the glove box so that I don't have to go through
the hassle of plugging my phone all the time and going through the whole
dance.

I tend to need to charge my phone anyway but for short trips sometimes I don't
even bother launching AA, which is a shame.

Waze has been pretty good though and it works well in the AA environment,
which is purposely limited so you can't get into to much of a distracting
flow.

~~~
Orangeair
What exactly do you mean by "the whole dance"? I've found Android Auto to be
pretty simple to use. There's just one short USB cord I plug in right next to
my shifter and I'm done. Everything comes up automatically. This is on a VW
Golf, so maybe it's simpler than it is for you in the Focus?

Most of the problems I've had have been software bugs. Like this morning when
I attempted to send a Hangouts message. The assistant voice made it sound like
it worked, but nothing every actually sent.

Anyway, I'm not sure a screenless device is really what you want. Most of the
appeal of AA is that it uses your regular phone, so it can use your data, read
and send message, make calls, etc.

Disclaimer: Google employee

~~~
jcastro
I left more specific feedback in another part of this thread.

With regard to the screenless device, I do like having my phone be the
centralized device of the entire thing, I just would like to make it a more
permanent part of the car so I can just hop in and drive.

I am debating trying a spare SIM and an old device and just leaving it in
there plugged all the time, but that just introduces an entirely different set
of problems.

------
Royalaid
This is the one thing I have been waiting for from Android Auto. Super happy
to see it!

------
keriati1
I use Waze daily to get to work and get back to home. Europe is full with
speed traps and total unexpected speed limits. For me Waze is a must have app
every time I go somewhere with the car.

I can't say I would ditch my iPhone just because of this (or maybe I would?),
but I might get an android phone just to use it with Waze in my car if this
really works great...

Apple CarPlay is total useless so far, even to play music from my iPhone in
the car, I rather use the built in media app from VW. Apple maps in Europe is
a total joke. Many times it tells me I should drive into a one way street or
it would try to take me into pedestrian zones...

------
4b11b4
I hadn't used Waze in a while but used it twice in the last month. Seems like
no one uses it anymore, and it was 2/2 in leading me down a bad, more time
consuming path.

~~~
davexunit
I very rarely take Waze's advice about alternate routes after being burned a
few times, and I have learned to expect that it's ETA prediction will always
be optimistic by about 15-20 minutes in my case. I mostly use it to pick
between a few well-known ways to/from work and to get more traffic data than
Google Maps will show.

The most infuriating thing about Waze is when you hit traffic that it already
knew about but _only then_ does it add 5-10 minutes in delay time.

~~~
dawnerd
Last I used it was a good four years back and it tried to make me take left
turns from a small alley into a major high at during rush hour in la. Ended up
costing me more time than if I just hopped on the main road to begin with.

~~~
majormajor
Google Maps has gotten pretty obnoxious about this lately too.

LA rush hour is bad enough with crowded enough side streets now that the way
to outsmart it in my experience is to be _dumber_ than Google and just take
the damn highway after all, with the exception of a few certain areas (like
"the highway's moving ok overall but the exit I need will be backed up an
extra five minutes so I'm going to got off early" type stuff).

~~~
dawnerd
Actually just got bit by this this morning. Google said to take 405 -
sepulveda because there was "no traffic" towards lax. Turns out that's because
sepulveda was basically closed for road work. Ended up almost an hour later
than I planned.

------
davexunit
Should I be seeing an update for Waze in the Play store? It says I am up-to-
date but I did not have the option to use Waze when I used Android Auto just a
couple of hours ago.

~~~
recursion
Me too. I'm on 4.26.0.3 and no update showing in play store. I'm in the UK and
hoping I will see it there in the next few hours as I love Waze.

------
taternuts
Do they have it for IOS's car play? Though I suppose I don't care all that
much since car play is so bad I disable it and just use my phone anyways.

~~~
dkrich
Was trying to figure this out myself. After looking at the Car Play website,
it doesn't seem like they do, which is annoying.

I'm assuming that Apple isn't playing nice with Google and giving users free
choice about which nav apps they can use and that Google would release a
Google Maps and/or Waze version for Car Play if given the ability.

Again, these are assumptions, if anybody can correct me on that, I'd love to
hear otherwise.

This to me is a big enough deal that I would seriously consider an Android
over an iPhone for this reason alone. I never use Apple Maps, it's an inferior
product on every level, and I can't understand why Apple seems insistent on
the idea that people want to use it. In my experience the only people who use
Apple Maps are those who are too lazy to change from the default nav system
built into the iPhone or just don't care enough to use a better nav system.
It's never people who actively prefer Apple Maps.

~~~
Thrymr
> In my experience the only people who use Apple Maps are those who are too
> lazy to change from the default nav system built into the iPhone or just
> don't care enough to use a better nav system.

And people who use CarPlay, unfortunately.

~~~
j0hnml
Luckily, iOS 11 has brought / is bringing lane-guidance to Apple maps. This is
a huge deal for me and makes maps.app _a lot_ more tolerable and driver-
friendly.

------
crusso
After the last decade-plus of having car companies try to force you to buy
their updated maps, I refuse to buy another car that doesn't include CarPlay
support.

I rented a car with CarPlay a couple of months ago and I was surprised at how
easy it was to just plug my phone in and get going with it.

------
MBlume
Doesn't seem to work through the Android Auto app on my phone

------
tomerbd
do yourself a favor and just stick with google maps navigation.

~~~
nikofeyn
in a dense urban environment, like where i live, waze significantly out
performs google maps on a day to day basis. its routing is much better for
real time issues and is very quick to react to things happening on the road,
including cops, stopped cars, hazards, etc. when i am doing less serious
driving (i.e., outside of commuting or running late), my car's navigation or
google maps works fine.

------
kkotak
Waze always baffled me. No one I know uses it and most never heard of it.
Google had pretty sophisticated data/algo of their own when they paid $1+B for
this thing. ELI5 - why should any one care about Waze?

~~~
CharlesW
Waze's primary innovation was to crowdsource near-realtime traffic
information. They weren't the first[1], but they were the first to do it on a
large scale. Some of it is automatic (e.g. speed, which usually reflects
traffic conditions) and some of it is interactive, encouraging users with
"points" to fumble with their phones in order to report police sightings, road
obstructions, etc.

> _No one I know uses it and most never heard of it._

Intersting — everyone uses it in California, to the point that it strongly
affects traffic patterns[2]. Where are you?

[1]
[https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/dash](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/dash)
[2] [http://www.gq.com/story/waze-ruining-los-angels-side-
streets](http://www.gq.com/story/waze-ruining-los-angels-side-streets)

~~~
kkotak
I'm in Palo Alto and actually had seen their small office on Hamilton. I do
know how it works and tried to myself but found it really cumbersome. The only
explanation I can see is iPhone users who didn't have the benefit of Google
maps a few years back that propelled Waze's use. As for the valuation - if
they had even 10M active users, Google paid $100 for each of them, knowing
that it was inevitable that they'll eventually get the iPhone users anyways.

------
cordite
I wish more apps had CarPlay (apple) support too.

