The Waze app that became so popular a few years ago by innovating the old GPS-driven navigation systems that we use to beat traffic is now announcing it’s going to be revolutionizing the user’s gas pump experience.
According to reports today, a significant number of Waze’s 50 million users will be able to pay at the pump with contactless solutions like the Exxon Mobil Rewards app or a similar Shell app.
The stated purpose of this new functionality is to allow drivers to minimize their touch points at the gas pump.
Amusingly, though, they’ll still have to touch the pump nozzle.
“In the current environment, we understand that our customers may wish to limit interactions and touch points during their fueling experience,” Iris Hill, Shell’s US marketing technology manager, says in a contemporary press statement. “The integration with the Shell app enables a secure, contactless, and rewarding payment experience so the Waze community can save on every fill-up with the Fuel Rewards program and get back on the road quickly and safely.”
Yes, coronavirus is scary, but given the limited contact that it takes to punch in a pin, the appeal of the new payment methodology may have a lot more to do with overall convenience.
While some drivers might be enticed to use this contactless solution to breeze in and out of the gas station a little bit quicker, others are suggesting that flagship functions of the Waze app that they used to love are no longer working properly.
One such complaint involves ways is live location and ETA features.
“You can still share a destination with ‘friends’ but they no longer see your live location and an accurate ETA,” writes a slightly disgruntled Redditor. “My only regular Waze friend is my wife, and we use it know who will get home from work first (and take out the dog). I used to know exactly where on her route she was and when she’d be home to the minute. Now, I’ll receive a notification that she’s on her way home or to a store or whatever, but when I click on her in my friends menu it just gives her destination- the map doesn’t show her live location anymore and the ETA is wrong- the ETA always shows the current time. She could be driving an hour to work, and I know she’s still a half hour away and the ETA will say the current time.”
Regardless of any bumps in the road, so to speak, Waze is still a household name, and popular with drivers of late model vehicles with the latest newfangled gadgetry. Until a robot comes along that can drive your car for you, Waze has a good chance of remaining one of the most prominent apps on a driver’s dashboard.