WAZE navigation app supporting Android auto has started to roll out, let's review it.

After 2 months of testing of WAZE on android auto it has started rolling out in Google play. The feature once promised at I/O 2016 is now here. With Waze avoiding bad traffic just became much easier.

 You don't have to do anything too crazy to set things up, either. If you have Waze installed on your Android phone, all you need to do is download the update, connect it to your CAR, select the Navigation App icon, and Waze will either launch (if it was the last application used for navigation), or you can tap Navigation again to bring up a menu to access other applications. Once you are in Waze, you can select favorite locations via the menu, or manually enter an address, and you are off.

 It even supports voice commands. So if you say "OK Google, drive to work," Waze can open and begin the navigation process to that destination. And all the crowd-sourced traffic data will be there to help with your next commute.

Waze isn't the first navigation app to make its way to Android Auto-connected dashboards. The automotive platform launched back in 2015 with Google Maps built in, but this is the first chance for drivers who prefer Waze to use their favorite app after a long wait. Google has owned the company since 2013, and first teased a Waze integration for Android Auto in 2015. That delay, to some degree, comes from the challenge of translating the app's experience from the phone to the dashboard.

"It was a big challenge and took quite a while to get the design for this implementation," Waze Product Lead Jens Baron”. Android Auto is a framework that has to be approved for all kinds of driver distraction guidelines around the globe. The Android Auto variant responds just as well to course corrections and rerouting as the phone app does, firing off voice prompts as necessary. That said, the inability to change the voice behind the prompts may disappoint some owners—during my 24 hours of testing, I couldn't find anything to indicate that this popular feature was coming to Android Auto. Here's hoping that changes in a future version, because navigation is far more enjoyable when Jedi Master Yoda or Mr. T is directing you.

But it's the crowd-sourcing of information—from construction, to road hazards, to police speed traps—remains Waze's calling card, and it's flawless in Android Auto. While the system won't read out warnings unless it's actively routing the driver to a destination, tapping around the screen to inspect the different warnings left by other users is easy.

Plug in a route, though, and the system really shines, issuing audio warnings around half a mile before they arrive. That might not be enough time to get on the stoppers before a cop can hit you with the radar, but it's still enough of a warning to avoid road debris, disabled vehicles, or other hazards that can't write speeding tickets. The warnings can be confirmed through “like” or dispute the warning—if there really is a cop up ahead, simply tap the thumbs up icon on the warning.

Some features still aren't fully functional at launch, though; for now, you can only use voice commands to tell Waze to lead you to a specific address or pre-programmed "Home" or "Work" destination. Waze says voice will eventually be expanded, adding the ability to report hazards and more in the future.

The mobile app's social features like carpool, "beep beep," gas price tracking, and map chat will also be included in Auto-specific updates, along with the Waze speedometer, the exclusion of which elicited "strong feedback" from the company's pool of 5,000 beta testers according to Baron. He said there's no set schedule for the updates, but it's "something we’re looking to introduce very quickly." 

I checked out the integrated Google Maps feature too, to really compare how Waze stacked up. My route with Google Maps was noticeably smoother than the Waze navigation, with no lag whatsoever and more clearly marked merge directions. Part of that superiority came from the cleaner interface, which is less cluttered than Waze — but it's the realtime alerts and driver interaction that make the app so popular in the first place, drawing in 65 million monthly active users across the globe.

The Android Auto integration brings a slightly stripped-down version of Waze to dashboards, but that in itself doesn't make it an inferior product, especially with updates on the way. Just like the mobile versions of the maps, what you should use really comes down to personal preference — you'll still get directions to where you need to go.

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