What’s a ride-hailing company to do when it’s got a rival or two cruising around town trying to pick up the same customers it wants? It has to have a leg up on the competition. Getting passengers to their destinations quicker than other services is one way to beat out others, which is why Lyft is partnering with Google’s traffic app Waze. [More]
Traffic Apps
Waze Accused Of Stealing Map Data From Competing Traffic App
By 9.3.15
How do you catch someone who you think is stealing your map data? Just put locations on the map that don’t exist, and then look for those locations to show up on the alleged thief’s maps. That’s what traffic-alerting app PhantomAlert did when it believed that competitor Waze was stealing its location database. Now PhantomAlert is suing Waze, which has since been purchased by Google. [More]
Future Travel Apps Will Plan Your Road Trip Bathroom Breaks
By 2.11.15
A three-hour drive is never a three-hour drive, thanks to traffic snarls, pit stops, and weather conditions. While current mapping apps are better able to predict how long it will take us to get somewhere, what if they could also recommend the best time and place for you to stop based on past traffic data? An algorithm from researchers at MIT might help real-life travelers do this. [More]
Smartphone Traffic Apps: Are You Gambling With Your Commute?
By 1.30.14
Gone are the days of simple radio traffic reports and plotting out your travel route before hitting the road. Today, commuters use a variety of smartphone apps designed to show real-time traffic and travel times. But is banking on an app to give you the fastest route really effective? [More]
