Waze is a social mobile application that was designed to help driver’s get around traffic. It provides users with free turn-by-turn GPS navigation based on the live conditions of the road.
The GPS technology company just confirmed that it has raised another $30 million in growth funding, led by Horizon Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
Waze is a social mobile app that provides free turn-by-turn GPS navigation based on the live conditions of the road, while harvesting the traffic information that users provide. It blends real-time traffic information with the urgency of a social network.
With Waze, the more people that use the GPS app, the better the information. Waze currently over 7 million users, thanks due to its aggressive global expansion.
“Because the people input it, we know what’s going on on the road, we know about road closures, we know about exits not working, we know about signals not working, things that we can actually effect and improve people’s driving,” said Michal Roman Habdank, a spokesman for Waze.com. When problems arise, Wazers file reports. Then Waze is then able to suggest alternate routes, based on the information provided by its users.
“What we can do that’s different is show you stuff on arterial roads and show you what’s going on on Sepulveda and what’s going on on Pico or Olympic, and places that you’re not going to see otherwise,” said Roman Habdank.
You can download the free app on a number of different smartphones, including iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Nokia and Windows Mobile.