Waze just got Gemini voice controls — and a mode that finally shuts up
Waze's July update brings Gemini-powered voice search, conversational incident reports, routes personalised to your driving habits and a 'less chatty' mode that trims instructions to the essentials. Rolling out on Android and iOS.
Anyone who drives with Waze knows the dilemma: the app is priceless, but it will not stop talking. July’s update goes straight at that — a new “less chatty” voice mode trims instructions to the essentials (turns and road hazards) and leaves your music and podcasts alone. It’s rolling out on Android and iOS.
What does Gemini actually change in Waze?
The voice finally understands humans. With Gemini built in, you can report incidents conversationally — describe the pothole or the crash in your own words instead of digging through menus —, suggest map corrections (a closed street, an address that moved) and search by voice with requests like “find a café open now” or “show the cheapest petrol station nearby”. Gemini interprets, offers options and confirms the destination without your hands leaving the wheel.
What about the personalised routes?
They’re the quietest change and possibly the most useful: Waze now suggests routes based on each driver’s habits and the city’s traffic patterns — motorway people see motorway routes first. There’s also a dedicated motorcycle mode, with two-wheel routing and alerts, starting in countries like Brazil, Mexico and Argentina before expanding elsewhere.
The direction of travel is clear: European driving is getting more assisted by the month, whether by app or by law — new cars in the EU are already required to monitor driver attention. The official details are on the Waze blog. The one thing the app still won’t do is pay your tolls.
By Oliver Grant
Image: Futurhit12 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
