Waze announced today the launch of crash history alerts, designed to notify you if a road you’re approaching has a history of crashes.
The new feature is powered by proprietary AI technology, which analyzes historical crash data as well as key characteristics of a road, such as its typical traffic levels, the elevation, whether it’s a highway or a local road or if there’s a curve, among other information that deems the route crash-prone. The AI model also combines reports from the millions of users on Waze. According to the Google-owned navigation app, users report accidents every two seconds.
Additionally, to minimize distractions, Waze limits the amount of crash notifications you see, particularly for roads you frequently navigate. This is likely because drivers feel more comfortable on roads they’re familiar with and want to be more cautious while driving on unknown roads.
Image Credits: Waze
Last year, Geektime spotted a beta version of the feature, noting that nearby high-risk roads were highlighted in red on the map. However, the final version appears to have opted for the typical purple and blue color scheme.
Waze’s crash history feature joins several other safety features, including the ability to detect traffic accidents in real time and lane guidance to prevent drivers from getting confused about which lane is the correct one.