Waze mapping software is now a part of Android Auto, joining Google Maps
Context & Ripple Effects
Waze has been inside Google's orbit for a while — it was added to the batch of apps OEMs could pre-install on Android devices back in 2015 — but the in-car side lagged. When Android Auto let drivers run the interface from their phones in any car in late 2016, Waze support was conspicuously missing from that smartphone-display update.
This closes that gap: Waze now sits on Android Auto alongside Google Maps, giving drivers a choice between Google's own navigator and the crowd-sourced traffic app on the same screen. It also sets up the deeper integration that followed, with Google later rolling Assistant into Waze on Android phones.
First-order effects
- Android Auto users can now run Waze on the car's head unit instead of propping up a phone, closing the feature gap left by the 2016 smartphone-display update.
Second-order effects
- Rival navigation apps like INRIX, which revamped its turn-by-turn apps with traffic predictions just months earlier, now compete against two Google-owned options bundled into the same in-car platform.
Third-order effects
- If Google keeps folding its navigation properties into one in-car surface, third-party nav apps risk being squeezed out of Android Auto entirely, leaving the platform's default map as the main alternative to Google Maps itself.
The trend: Google is consolidating its navigation portfolio onto Android Auto, turning the in-car platform into a walled garden where its own mapping apps set the terms for competitors.