Waze update gives some drivers a welcome surprise

Waze has pushed an update that allows for navigation information to be displayed on a vehicle’s driver display, as well as the central display. The move could enhance the driving experience for Waze users, if their car supports it.

Waze is one of the most popular navigation apps, with many choosing it over Google Maps or Apple Maps. It’s a good reason to use Android Auto or Apple CarPlay in your car – and if you do, then this latest update changes how the app behaves on select vehicles.

Traditionally, using your smartphone would mean that you have to look at the car’s central display to see the information, like navigation instructions. Some cars have allowed this to also be displayed on the driver’s display too, while a few – very few – also allow this information in a heads-up display.

The aim is to get the details in front of the driver’s eyes and avoid the distraction of looking into the middle of the car to consult the map or directions. Waze hasn’t offered this feature before, but in version 5.4, it has pushed this support to the public.

The cars that it works on is limited however, with support reported for BMW, Ford, Volvo and Polestar at present. It might come down to those models using Android Automotive on recent models, although that’s unconfirmed.

What we do know, thanks to Reddit users sharing images (such as palmenmichiel's pic above), is that you’ll see some crossover from Waze to the instrument cluster after the update, when a vehicle manufacturer supports it. While the screen shows the graphics, it doesn’t include everything, focusing on speed limits and the maps, so it’s not going to be a constant distraction.

At the moment it’s not known if this will change anything for native Waze apps on cars. Some models running Android Automotive can install Waze as a native app (ie., not as part of Android Auto or Apple CarPlay) and it’s likely that this will also bring wider support for those drivers. If that’s something you’ve seen in your car, feel free to share in the comments below.

As far as we know at the moment, you’ll need Waze 5.4 for this to work and all the images appear to be from Apple CarPlay at the moment.