Waze and Google launch cross-integrated projects
The crowd-based navigation service Waze was bought by Google for nearly 1 billion US dollars just months ago. The speculations around the deal were pointing different buyers for the Israeli based company, including companies like Facebook and Apple. Soon after the acquisition of Waze by Google became a fact, the US team of Waze relocated to the Google’s campus. The FTC has not officially approved the deal yet. As usual for deals of this caliber, the FTC is ongoing investigation before it officially confirms the acquisition is legitimate.
Meantime this does not stop the processes and the development neither in Google nor in Waze. In fact, both companies (they are only one company really) are working on integrated projects to cross-integrate different services and features for better convenience of customers.
Waze has just released the first results from its team work with Google. For example, Google Maps has changed the way it delivers reports for accidents. The original source for accident reporting was TomTom, but now Waze will be in charge. For now the accident reports are limited to a few countries only, including Germany, Mexico, Argentine, Panama, Switzerland, Brazil, Colombia, US, UK, France, Peru, Chile and Colombia. Google has also brought some changes in services of Waze. The crowd-based app now includes Google Street View and Google Search. According to the VP of Google Maps Brian McClendon, this is only the beginning of the long-term projects for cross-integrated services and features.
For all of you that are worried that Google might “melt away” the app Waze in its abundance of services and acquired companies, the giant claims that it is planning to keep both companies separated. Perhaps the next step for Google is to include local advertising in the services of the app. Share with us what are your expectations for the development of the team work between Google and Waze.
Source: AllThingsD
