The Waze alerts on Google Maps are just another harrowing reminder of our eventual foray into a buttonless future.

Conversely, Waze, which focuses on detailed traffic conditions and has 151 million users as of late 2022, gains greater visibility through Google Maps’ broader reach. For users, this collaboration is already evident.

The ability to report incidents is what made Waze popular in the first place, and while Maps has had this feature for a few years now, the Maps version isn't anywhere near as robust. As a result, Waze has developed a large number of dedicated users that take the time to report incidents.

Waze incident alerts, like police presence warnings, are showing up on Google Maps, with a clear note that they came from Waze users. Users can confirm or dismiss these alerts, which pop up briefly to keep the map clean. The feature is still rolling out slowly, with only a few users noticing it, and its regional availability is unclear.

Google Maps now shows reports from Waze on Android Auto, a feature that also just launched in the mobile app too.

Google has started integrating Waze’s crowdsourced incident reports into Google Maps, starting with police alerts.

In late July, Google said it would bring a bunch of changes to the Maps app, including improved incident reporting. Google also said it would make it easier to log incident reports with assistance " from the Maps and Waze communities .