FreightTech 25: Making Waze In The Tech World

Waze shakes up traffic-mapping services

Since 2013, Israeli company Waze has changed the way people get their directions. 

Waze uses crowdsourced information to direct users along city streets, notifying them of hazards they may encounter along the way. 

From speed traps to road closures to construction, millions of users are saving time (and undoubtedly aggravation) as they move from point A to point B. 

Waze made its debut on the FreightWaves FreightTech 25 2019 list, coming in at No. 13. It ranks No. 25 this year after falling off the list completely for 2020. 

The Waze mantra is all about building a community of drivers. According to its website, it aims to "bring together drivers, riders, municipalities, first responders and transit authorities. We solve transportation problems, improve mobility and work to end traffic altogether."

In 2019, Waze saw over 130 million monthly users, according to Fortune, and that number keeps growing as it works to build a network of real-time traffic updates. 

The Waze website features blogs and community engagement for people to share stories of app use, experiences with traffic and seek carpool opportunities. 

Waze is developing more partnerships to help traffic flow, like partnering with large-scale events to give people attending an idea of what traffic around the event looks like. If you've ever sat for an hour trying to get into a football stadium parking lot, you'll appreciate that feature. 

It is also seeking partnerships with music apps like Spotify and Apple Music to seamlessly interface music with directions. Broadcasters, advertisers and city officials all have the ability to work with Waze as well as it develops the app to be relevant across multiple industries. 

For drivers and trackers, Waze could help highlight the clearest routes to take, cutting down delivery and pickup times and streamlining the driving process. 

Waze also hopped on the virtual event train in 2020, hosting its first virtual conference with Waze On in September. CEO Noam Bardin highlighted the vision for the future, the interface with the app and with the Waze Carpool feature and the strength of the Waze volunteer community during the pandemic. 

2020 marks Bardin's last year as "chief Wazer," as he announced on Twitter earlier this year. 

You can download Waze from the App Store or on Google Play, and the community is free to join.