Waze's traffic navigation app already shows ads prodding drivers to swing by fast-food joints like Dunkin' Donuts and Taco Bell. Now it's adding a new item to its menu—the ability to place orders at some shops.
On Tuesday, the Google-owned app will start letting drivers purchase coffee and other items from Dunkin' Donuts for pickup along their way. It's the first time that Waze has offered this kind of "order ahead" option, but unlikely to be the last.
If all goes well with the Dunkin' Donuts test, Waze plans to team up with other merchants so its millions of users can order pizza, reserve parking spaces, fill prescriptions and even buy groceries without having to open another app on their phones.
"It could be almost anything that a driver could order ahead and have ready for pick up," said Jordan Grossman, head of Waze's business partnerships in North America.
They should dispatch drones to bring the donuts to your car while you're stuck in morning traffic.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bradley13 on Wednesday March 29 2017, @06:29PM (8 children)
Just...no. Can we please take the entire marketing industry and flush it into the sewers where it belongs?
If my navigation app distracted me with ads, I'd replace it without a thought. In fact, I still use an old TomTom (which I have to manually update, for a fee, when I want a newer map). Why? Because it doesn't do anything else. It doesn't display ads, it doesn't try to sell me stuff, it doesn't get interrupted by other apps, it's not online, it doesn't auto-update. It just sits there and tells me how to get to where I'm going.
Single purpose devices have an important purpose.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ikanreed on Wednesday March 29 2017, @06:43PM
I'm sorry, did you just imply your personal safety is more important than our ability to increase sales 3% this quarter?
The first day that corporations figure out how to get literal captive audiences is the last day of freedom on the planet.
(Score: 2) by nobu_the_bard on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:04PM (2 children)
Google Maps on my phone has started doing popups when I'm driving lately. No ads yet, but it's been things like "You are making good time!" or something, that covers up the directions. I'm not sure why I'd want the assurances? The display makes it obvious how well I'm doing, and my memory is more than 5 seconds into the past for comparison.
It's only a matter of time before they start adding "content" pop-ups if they haven't already done them and I just hadn't noticed one.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday March 29 2017, @09:44PM (1 child)
It's weird how different people can have different experiences with Google Maps. I think they make it act differently for different people, perhaps to use some of them as beta-testers or something.
I use it all the time, but the only popups I get are when I cross state boundaries (which I do frequently), or when I reach my final destination. And sometimes to tell me about an alternate route.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @11:54PM
It's called A/B testing and all the big players do it as well millions of websites and traditional companies. The basic idea is you give ##% of people version A and ##% of people version B (etc...). If the A group performs slightly better, such as by buying 0.05% more often, then version A gets rolled out to everyone. Rinse and repeat over and over again until you've maximized whatever metric you were measuring. The process is often automated for colors, prices, ad types, notification rates, etc...
(Score: 3, Informative) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:59PM
Flush it into the sewers where it belongs? No. It needs to be nuked from orbit. Total annihilation.
(Score: 2) by fliptop on Wednesday March 29 2017, @08:47PM (1 child)
Sucks to be you, I still use paper maps. And why did your TomTom direct you to my lawn?
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday March 29 2017, @09:43PM
Yes indeed. WalMart has WalMart modified Rand McNally US Road Atlases for very cheap, about $8 now. If you don't like the included directory of WalMarts, you could just rip that part out. It won't reinstall, promise!
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Thursday March 30 2017, @06:16PM
Have you tried OsmAnd at all? The UI takes a bit to get used to (although it seems to be closer to a "real GPS" than the point and drool Google Maps interface, so you might have less issues if you're still using one of those.) It's free, ad-free, the only limitation is in downloading maps -- I think you get 7 for free, after that they're paid. But each map covers an entire US state so basically you're only paying if you're driving all over the country. And as far as I'm concerned, the directions it gives are just as good as Google, but the prompts are marginally more useful and there's a TON of additional options like you'd expect from a real GPS (everything from height/weight restrictions to customizing how closely the map zooms while tracking your position.)
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday March 29 2017, @06:30PM (2 children)
Sounds very convenient. Of course, this means Google will know exactly where you've been and what you've bought while you've been away from home.
I do like the drone-delivery option though. Even better would be if the drones could deliver stuff while the car is traveling at highway speed. Just make a requirement that your car have a sunroof for this.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:00PM
But wait... it gets even better... the Google's algorithms [soylentnews.org] will appropriately pack the required dose of insulin together with the donuts.
As once William Shatner said: "Those who sacrifice privacy for convenience..."
(oh, sorry, the accuracy problem [soylentnews.org], how could I forget? Correction needed - Kirk was saying something on the line of "Without freedom of choice there is no creativity.")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 30 2017, @03:06PM
All new police cars will now have sun roofs.
(Score: 2) by Dunbal on Wednesday March 29 2017, @06:33PM
Aaaaaand deleted from my phone.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday March 29 2017, @06:44PM (3 children)
How long does it take for Dunkin Donuts to hand you a reheated coffee and a donut? Or is this for buying an egg sandwich?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:00PM (2 children)
That's a good point. If there's any kind of line, I don't see how this is going to help much; you'll still have to wait in line when you get there, unless maybe they have a separate line for the Waze orderers.
Where this makes more sense is with things that take longer to prepare. So if I want a sandwich, for instance (esp. a custom order), I'd be able to pre-order it, and the restaurant would know when I'm due to arrive there and be able to make it just before I get there, having it ready when I roll up. One problem I see is: how do you handle people ordering while driving? That could be dangerous. Texting and driving is bad enough, but at least there it's possible to use voice control. Ordering from a 5" smartphone screen while driving (assuming you don't have a passenger to do it for you) would be very dangerous, though perhaps not so much if you're stuck at a long red light. But if you ordered *before* you started driving (and the restaurant didn't start on your order until you were closer, in case it's a long drive, so that your food doesn't sit out too long), that would work out great.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday March 29 2017, @09:21PM (1 child)
You guys aren't thinking big enough. The Waze order ahead feature is so that Dunkin' Donuts can replace its human workers with a donut dispenser that will hand you your order when you go through the drive-thru. The only reason they still employ humans is that computers aren't yet quite able to understand what the customers are saying; Waze eliminates that.
That's why I was taking it to the next logical hop with drones. Order comes in via Waze, Dunkin' site prepares the payload, drone flies it to your car. Also works if you're sitting in your home and you start jonesing for donuts and you're within the range of the drones.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Thursday March 30 2017, @01:58AM
Given the capabilities of Siri/Alexa/Google for voice recognition now, I sincerely doubt it would be difficult with one of these voice recognition schemes to recognize limited sets of products in orders most of the time. (If the customer became frustrated or there was real difficulty in recognition, there could always be a "connect to operator" option which wouldn't even have to be local...)
Well, I guess there is the issue that DD is traditionally a New England chain, so maybe they'd need a "Southie" edition for voice recognition. E.g., "bananer muffin" = banana muffin, "lahdge iced regulah" = large iced coffee with cream and sugar, "bawstawn cream" = Boston cream donut, etc.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday March 29 2017, @06:59PM (13 children)
Have any of you used waze? I tried but the cognitive load was huge, too large for driving. If mere texting kills X then waze must kill like X ** X, its kinda nuts.
I live in an area without alternative routes. If the interstate is closed sure I can take frontage roads and parallel roads but there's no mapping algorithm or decision making involved. I live in a grid land, I don't need to solve OSPF to figure out a route. Also flex time means I rarely get stuck in traffic. Often if I'm stuck in traffic is because of my destination and it unavoidable, if you don't want maker fair traffic the only option is to not go to maker fair. So its kinda "eh".
I like the idea of knowing where traffic is when I'm traveling outside my comfort zone which ironically is exactly when I need to keep eyes outside the vehicle and off my phone. So its kind of a fail at that. Also I don't travel much, at least not road trip. So if every other year I burn a couple hundred miles, I don't use the app enough to get anything out of it or have enough experience to operate it safely in the middle of nowhere.
I find the app switching complicated I'm usually listening to an audiobook or podcast or music via bluetooth so its like a minute of Fing around just to waze. It screams out for a waze appliance. An old tablet connected to my phone's mobile hotspot. Its just not worth the set up most of the time.
So if I have a copilot in the car, sort of like military electronics warfare officer, they can run waze to accomplish not much for me as the driver. I guess they could order coffee if I drank coffee which I don't.
Its the kind of thing that feels like it could be useful... it should be useful... but it isn't. Like how could a fitness tracker not be like the best thing ever, well, apparently pretty easily since they're useless.
Like what would be a useful app for driving... Maybe a navigation HUD to keep my eyes out? voice controlled music and phone that actually works (we have stuff that doesn't work already). Waze? Probably not.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:08PM (6 children)
Your driving experience sounds vastly different from mine. Most of America is not "grid land"; the east coast (where 2/3 of the population lives) in particular has roads that appear to have been designed by taking a bowl of spaghetti and dropping it onto a sheet of paper. Even if you know where you're going, you do not know if there's an accident or other road blockage on your main road, unless your name is Paul Atreides. That's why I use Google Maps (not Waze) for almost anything besides my very short commute.
I don't use Waze though (I have tried it several times) as it just doesn't seem to do a very good job of routing. The few times I've tried it, though, I certainly didn't feel like I needed to be "experienced" to use it. It's not hard to pick up on-the-fly.
As for app switching, I don't listen to music on my phone while driving; my car has its own infotainment with USB input so I just keep all my music on a thumb drive and use that.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Dunbal on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:44PM (1 child)
designed by taking a bowl of spaghetti and dropping it onto a sheet of paper
Proof of His Intelligent Design. May his noodly appendage always touch you.
(Score: 2) by captain_nifty on Thursday March 30 2017, @03:53PM
Ramen
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday March 29 2017, @09:23PM (1 child)
I see you've been to New Jersey.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday March 29 2017, @09:41PM
Yes, I have, and it's the worst I think, but everywhere on the east coast has crazy road layouts to some extent, with them generally being worse in the northeast.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday March 30 2017, @06:15PM (1 child)
I just zoomed in on 6 different random built-up places in near the east coast. And they were completely random - I asked my g/f, without telling her what I was looking for, to simply point towards built up areas as I zoomed into the map, and I focused the zoom around where she was pointing.
http://www.openstreetmap.org/way/140156450#map=16/34.2342/-77.9348 - grid
http://www.openstreetmap.org/way/140156450#map=15/39.3653/-74.4267 - grid
http://www.openstreetmap.org/way/140156450#map=16/37.2128/-77.4086 - mostly grid
http://www.openstreetmap.org/way/140156450#map=16/43.4882/-70.4581 - grid
http://www.openstreetmap.org/way/140156450#map=16/29.1832/-82.1508 - total fucking grid
fuck it, I didn't do a 6th, I was too overloaded by grids at that stage.
You are perhaps thinking of old centres of old towns?
For comparison, this is what I think of as a mess of roads: http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=17/59.43826/24.74707 (not randomly chosen, my home and my office are both in that view).
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday March 30 2017, @08:14PM
You obviously have never been to New Jersey.
I didn't look at all your links, just 2, but are any of them in New England or NJ/NY? Even the NoVA/DC area I live near now is a complete mess, and certainly does not resemble a grid, except in certain spots (namely old centers of old towns as you mentioned).
Sure, if you're in Manhattan, it's pretty easy to navigate because of the grid layout. But if you're going between different suburban places on various highways or other large roads that are constrained by geography (like water), things are totally different.
(Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:12PM
FTFY - I believe that is the correct term in TFA context.
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:33PM
Maybe it's meant to be used with Neuralink [soylentnews.org].
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Wednesday March 29 2017, @10:03PM (2 children)
I tried it a few years ago, but found that my attention span is dangerous enough without trying to actually use the app. Voice commands might help it, and they could exist by now, but otherwise it's scary.
The copilot idea isn't a bad one if I often had a passenger in the car. I have about three different routes I could take to work, and only one of them really has alternate options, so I could theoretically benefit from it, but it's not worth the risk.
And this is an option I'd never use. I've had literally one donut in the last two or three years that I can recall. It was a chocolate long john, from Dunkin' Donuts, actually. Only got it because I was hungry and that was where the people driving wanted to stop. Donuts are too sweet for me though, particularly for breakfast. I'd certainly never use their ordering functionality. If I don't have time to wait for food, I probably don't have time to stop for it in the first place unless I'm literally going through their drive through at speed.
The preorder concept is an interesting one in its various implementations. I recall I was in downtown Chicago late summer last year and the Panera or St Louis Bread Company or whatever they call themselves had kiosks set up in the shop where you could order your food and swipe your card and stuff and they'd just bring it out to you eventually rather than waiting in line for the cashier. I kind of wonder if it's not all part of an effort to cut operating costs by reducing the footprint of the cashier manhours. I know the Bread Co a couple blocks from work also does the pre-order thing via phones, but it's one of the most upper class neighborhoods in St Louis, so there's way too many old white people looking to scream at someone because they didn't order what they thought they did to actually get rid of the cashiers.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday March 30 2017, @08:26PM (1 child)
I recall I was in downtown Chicago late summer last year and the Panera or St Louis Bread Company or whatever they call themselves had kiosks set up in the shop where you could order your food and swipe your card and stuff and they'd just bring it out to you eventually rather than waiting in line for the cashier. I kind of wonder if it's not all part of an effort to cut operating costs by reducing the footprint of the cashier manhours.
Maybe, but it's a truly wonderful experience for me as a customer. I love to go to Paneras that have the kiosks. Compare:
Without kiosk:
- wait in line for cashier (wait a long time for stupid customers to stare at menu while cashier waits for them to speak, decide what they want, say what they want, change their mind, etc., then take forever paying), wait some more, keep waiting
- tell cashier what you want verbally, repeat yourself a few times
- pay
- go wait around the food pick-up area for your order
- go find a table
With kiosk:
- no line, just walk up to an available terminal
- swipe frequent-customer card
- get presented with choices, including your frequently-ordered/favorite items
- quickly choose your favorites, OR take your time and browse the *enormous* selection which the cashier won't tell you about that you didn't realize even existed: you can have your sandwich made with a dozen types of bread, a dozen different add-ons, you can change the regular ingredients (less/more/eliminate), etc.
- you can take advantage of special deals which the cashier forgot to tell you about (e.g. pastry for $0.99 if you buy a meal and drink)
- swipe your credit card to pay
- take a buzzer, enter the number, then go to your table and wait for someone to deliver your food
- you don't have to talk to some dumb cashier with a hard-to-understand Southern accent
- you don't have to wait in line with a bunch of annoying people
- you can laugh at the morons that don't want to use the kiosk and insist on going to the cashier to place an order as you go find a seat long before they're done with their order
The kiosks give you a level of convenience and speed you just cannot get with humans, especially because of how long it takes most people to communicate verbally, and the kiosks (due to their visual rather than verbal nature) give you options you won't get from a minimum-wage cashier. They also eliminate order mistakes that are commonplace with verbal orders.
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Friday March 31 2017, @12:46AM
Yeah, I wasn't trying to knock it (at least from a functionality point of view). It was a little strange from a "this is not how this normally works" kind of thing, but it worked out well enough and certainly was convenient. I'd just never seen it prior to then.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 2) by stormwyrm on Thursday March 30 2017, @03:30AM
I live in a big city with traffic jams from hell, where a 12 km drive can take an hour or more at the height of rush hour. Waze is plenty useful for finding routes to minimise traffic, and I use it just about every day. I basically turn it on after I’ve driven out the garage, pick a destination, and then it starts giving voice instructions on where to drive to get to there. I have music or an audiobook playing in the background, while Waze shows a map. Once it has plotted a route, I almost never need to futz it any more, unless I suddenly decide I need to go somewhere else, in which case it’s time to pull over and stop while I futz with it. I don’t know, but to me its cognitive load is fairly light. I rarely glance at it while driving except when it has failed to find a route which avoids traffic (mainly because my city is just like those Grishnakh described in another post: roads seem to have been planned by taking a bowl of spaghetti and dropping it on a sheet of paper, and construction zones and accidents are common), and there’s nothing else interesting to look at. I have a magnetic stand stuck on the windscreen of my car to which my phone is affixed when I’m driving, so if I do need to glance at it briefly my eyes are still facing the front, making it no worse than looking at the gauges. In my years of using it, Waze has shown me a couple of alternate routes to the office which I never knew existed before, so I do think its routing is at least decent. It otherwise works just like those older dedicated GPS navigation units and it plays nice with background music apps.
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
(Score: 1) by bolek_b on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:56PM
Again and again, somebody is dissatisfied with their core functionality and the spring is that time of year where some irresistible random bloat gets introduced. Thank you, but no.
If Google lacks ideas how to really improve the navigation, they might just ask. As for me, I would love advance information about upcoming significant change in legal speed. Or redo the UI in a good!! way - right now I would say the letters are bit too small for quick casual glance, not to mention that buttons on warning popups (such as "Like" and "It's not here") are tiny and next to each other. Just anything useful...
But no, all we will get is another load of ads.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:57PM (2 children)
1. Driver killed in easily avoidable accident.
2. Found with active Waze app running on their phone.
3. Lawyers circle in for the kill.
4. ???
5. Waze withdrawn due to excessive legal costs.
(Score: 3, Funny) by takyon on Wednesday March 29 2017, @08:02PM
Well, at least it's a better reason than "Meh." to kill a Google product.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by butthurt on Thursday March 30 2017, @12:42AM
Cautious driving . Always drive vigilantly according to road conditions and in accordance with traffic laws. It is strictly forbidden to send traffic updates (such as updates on road accidents and traffic congestion), or to non-verbally interact with the Service or use the Service in a non-verbal manner for any purpose other than navigation while driving. Traffic updates or non-verbal reports you want to submit to the Service may only be sent after you have stopped your vehicle in an appropriate location permitted by law. Alternatively, such updates may be sent by a passenger other than the driver, provided it does not interfere with the due course of driving and does not distract the driver's attention to the road.
[...]
You agree and acknowledge that you assume full, exclusive and sole responsibility for the use of and reliance on the Service, and you further agree and acknowledge that your use of or reliance on the Service is made entirely at your own risk. You further acknowledge that it is your responsibility to comply with all applicable laws (including traffic laws) while using the Service.
[...]
Apple
If you use the Service on an Apple device, then you agree and acknowledge that:
Apple, Inc. bears no duties or obligations to you under the Terms, including, but not limited to, any obligation to furnish you with Service maintenance and support;
You will have no claims, and you waive any and all rights and causes of action against Apple with respect to the Service or the Terms, including, but not limited to claims related to maintenance and support, intellectual property infringement, liability, consumer protection, or regulatory or legal conformance; [...]
-- https://www.waze.com/legal/tos [waze.com]
Hope that helps!
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday March 29 2017, @09:49PM (2 children)
> They should dispatch drones to bring the donuts to your car while you're stuck in morning traffic.
How about have drones carry me to work, avoiding the traffic?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 30 2017, @01:17AM (1 child)
With a circular runway, three could be taking off or landing at the same time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 30 2017, @03:06AM
That scales well.