Is Google Maps About to Let You Report Car Crashes?

It’s been five years since Google bought Waze, the crowdsourced live-traffic navigation app that changed the way most of us drive. Or at least the frequency with which most of us warn our fellow drivers of roadkill. In that time, some of Waze’s features have been worked into Google’s navigation. That’s mostly meant that the live traffic, accidents, construction, and road closures reported by Wazers appear in Google Maps when you plan your route. But if you come across an accident or a cop in Maps, you can’t report it and help your fellow drivers.

That all might be changing very soon. The folks over at Android Police looked at the guts of the latest version of Google Maps, which has code suggesting these features are about to get turned on. The next time you punch an address into Maps, you might also be able to add accidents, speed cameras, and speed traps along the way, and they’ll be immediately accounted for on the routes of other Maps users. It’s a step in the right direction for Maps, which already has a cleaner interface with the ability to search through Google for nearby food, hotels, and activities.

One feature we hope Maps will never incorporate, however, is Waze’s fever-dream need to take you on detours that save only a few seconds. Sometimes it’s just not worth it to cross three lanes of bumper-to-bumper traffic to get to an exit, only to drive right back up the on-ramp. That’s only one step below suggesting that we drive on the median to get around the guy in front of us.

Source: Android Police via Engadget