Google-owned GPS driving app Waze is enhancing the way users travel. In its latest update, the app is helping drivers avoid speeding tickets by introducing an all-new speed alert feature.
Now when you're using the Waze app to navigate, you'll automatically see a visual warning if you go over the speed limit, and you can also manually set audio warnings for reaching the limit or hitting 5, 10 or 15 percent over.
Waze revealed the news in an official blog post titled, "Avoid Tickets and Stay Informed with New Waze Speed Limits Feature."
"You probably know the feeling," the post reads as it introduces the feature. "You might be driving on a business trip or a road trip. Or you might be driving down a road you've driven at least a thousand times. Suddenly it happens. You look at your dashboard and think to yourself, 'What's the speed limit on this street?' No need to worry, we got this."
The ability to see the speed limit is quite convenient, but it comes with a catch: at launch, it will only arrive in 16 countries/territories and the U.S. isn't on the list. These countries are: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Czech Republic, El Salvador, France, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad & Tobago, and Uruguay. The update will see a global release "soon," Waze promises.
The feature works by incorporating a speedometer on the bottom left of the mobile screen, if the speed limit in any given area is ever exceeded, then an alert you that you're eligible to receive a ticket until you slow back down to legal driving speeds. Users can even further refine this function by customizing the alert to appear when your speed exceeds the limit by a pre-determined percentage.
Check it out in action below:
While drivers in the U.S. wait to get their hands on this handy new feature, they can tap into other safety features like audio alerts with street names; hands-free, voice-controlled settings; and push notifications about unusual traffic on your route to keep themselves busy.
Granted, this update is hardly groundbreaking. Competing GPS providers like Garmin and Magellan have put visual warnings on their user interfaces, so it's unclear why Waze has taken so long to do the same. However, the move is representative of a larger push the Google-owned company has made as of late. Aside from this latest update, Waze introduced a new function last week that warns in Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. drivers to slow down and remain cautious when approaching potentially dangerous intersections. Similarly, there is also a function that allows users to cheat the rules a little, letting them know where police officers are stationed.
