Waze is one of the most widely used GPS navigation apps, known for its real-time traffic updates and community-driven road data. While users can share their live location individually, there’s no simple way for groups traveling separately to coordinate their journey together.
Imagine you and three friends are meeting at a concert venue. You’re all driving from different starting points, but you want to know:
Who has already left?
Who’s stuck in traffic?
Who will arrive first? Currently, Waze allows location sharing, but it doesn’t provide a unified “group trip” experience. The product team is exploring a Group Navigation feature to make this process seamless.
Increase engagement by making Waze the go-to app for social, group-based travel.
Differentiate Waze from Google Maps by leaning into community coordination, not just solo navigation.
Encourage groups to stay within the Waze ecosystem instead of using external messaging apps for updates.
Primary: Groups of friends or family traveling separately to the same destination (e.g., events, meetups, road trips).
Secondary: Carpooling communities or sports teams who frequently coordinate arrivals.
How can Waze provide a clear, non-distracting way for multiple drivers to coordinate their navigation toward the same destination — without overwhelming the user with clutter or unsafe distractions while driving?
Design the UI and flow for how users can:
Create or join a Group Trip inside Waze.
See group members’ status (ETA, live location, whether they’ve started driving).
Receive lightweight updates during the trip (e.g., “Alex just arrived”).
Exit or close the group once the trip is done.
Keep the driver’s safety a top priority: minimal taps, no distracting visuals.
Focus only on the driver’s experience, not the backend or group management details.
Avoid reinventing the navigation UI — build on Waze’s existing design language.