Waze Unveils Motorcycle-Specific Navigation

[toratora]

https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/waze ... navigation

For years, traffic apps users have viewed our Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) with skepticism, and rightly so. Motorcycles are allowed in the High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane in most states, meaning we can skip a large portion of traffic, but there has never been an option to select that in your nav, until now.

To our knowledge, Waze is the first app to offer an HOV option when designating a route for your travel, but that’s not all it’s doing for motorcyclists with this update. Selecting “Motorcycle” as your main mode of transportation will change your routes to those “optimized for motorcyclists based on where fellow Wazers-on-wheels are riding.” The company says that the more you ride in the motorcycle setting, the more the app will learn preferred motorcycle routes and “the smarter the routing will become.”

To change your vehicle type on Waze go to Settings>Navigation>Vehicle Type>Motorcycle

We spent some time riding around using the Waze app in Motorcycle setting to run errands around town for an hour and honestly, it’s hard to tell if it’s doing anything differently. The HOV integration is a huge improvement, and we expect to see more conveniences gained from that than from piggy-backing off other motorcyclists’ routes, but time will tell!

You can check out the Waze Live Map with your browser, or DL the app for your phone.

[Karim]

I wonder if I can teach it to go around car traps..

[toratora]

Waze is pretty amazing, it just might be able to do that with some input.

[toratora]

https://www.engadget.com/2017/12/06/goo ... ode-india/

12.06.17

Although, Google's Android Oreo Go OS and Files Go! storage app were the headliners at its India event, the company also had two more surprises in tow: a two-wheeler mode for Maps and a bi-lingual version of its Assistant for Indian feature phone JioPhone.

India overtook China to become the world's leading motorcycle and scooter market last year. With millions of two-wheelers in the country, it's no wonder Google is creating a dedicated update for the bikes. The new mode will scout shortcuts that aren't accessible to cars and trucks, and provide customized traffic and arrival time estimates. Google claims it's an "India-first" feature, so chances are it will spread to other regions too.

While Android OreoGo will pre-install Assistant on budget smartphones, the digital helper is also heading to a feature phone. A Hindi and English language variant of Assistant is coming to the $25, 4G-enabled JioPhone. Aside from slight tweaks to its interface, Assistant will retain all its voice-based functions, despite being downgraded to a bargain-basement phone. Though, it will have to tussle with JioPhone's existing Assistant (HelloJio) while there.