- Waze is reportedly testing traffic light support
- Popular feature from Google Maps could soon go live
- The feature is currently only testing in Israel for now
Waze is reportedly introducing a feature that many users have been calling for — and one that Google Maps has been offering since 2022.
Support for traffic lights and stop signs has been helping Google Maps users anticipate upcoming turns and better understand the correct lane to be in for more than three years, but it appears that Waze is finally playing catch up,
According to Android Authority, which itself received a tip from GeekTime, Waze is testing traffic lights on its maps in Israel, where the app was originally founded and where many of the developers still currently live and work, despite the company’s acquisition by Google in 2013.
The report suggests that the feature is still in its very early stages and that the number of traffic lights being shown at any one time is currently limited, to avoid cluttering the map to the point that it becomes distracting.
Android Authority claims that when actively navigating, the map shows a maximum of three traffic lights at a time. Although this changes when users aren’t navigating, with all traffic lights in the vicinity shown to those merely browsing the map or driving without navigation.
Waze confirmed back in May that traffic light data, stop signs and other important road signs would be introduced to its mapping services after asking its users to vote in favor of the new features.
Google pulls ahead
As previously mentioned, Google Maps added traffic lights, stop signs and other road furniture to its maps years ago, seeing as these are some of the most important reference points when arriving at a junction or other complex traffic system.
They allow drivers to more effectively plan to be in the correct lane for an upcoming turn and it’s something close rival Apple Maps has also been offering for some time now, too.
Seeing that Waze is now owned by Google, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to think that the former could use traffic light data that already exists to roll out the feature beyond Israel in the very near future.
In fact, the two services are becoming more similar as time progresses, seeing as the tech giant effectively “borrowed” most of the features that made Waze so popular in the first place.
But Google arguably now has the upper hand, as it also integrates its Google Places data, as well as live fuel price and EV charger availability information.
Couple this with the rollout of Google Gemini into vehicles and it is rapidly becoming one of the most powerful ways to safely interact with navigation on the move, with the ability to ask complex questions about a destination, book tables at a restaurant and receive recommendations from a huge community of users.
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