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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: 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.