For the million users who trust Waze to navigate roads in real time, CEO Guy Berkowitz recently admitted that the algorithm is no longer accurate and has been skewing people’s routes. With the lack of travel in a post-pandemic world, traffic in Israel increased by 23%, and the Waze algorithm hasn’t yet caught up, sending millions of drivers out of their way and inconveniencing drivers.
“The history of the road – which is part of our algorithm – no longer reflects reality. Think of a road whose history shows that there are no traffic jams, and today it is full. So the coronavirus has killed our history and the algorithms need to change and give much more weight to what is happening in real-time – and this is not always true, because the way we direct you is not necessarily the short or fast way, but the Waze way.”
The tech company, owned by Google after a $1 billion dollar purchase in 2013, is working to update the algorithm. The company will also factor in the increase in roadwork, as well as the decline in public transport due to health concerns.
