Waze: A faster commute for you, for me, for everybody

Looking forward: Amir Mirzaee and Julie Mossler say that Waze is open to working with the Government to reduce traffic.

In a city plagued with traffic as Kuala Lumpur, people are always looking for the fastest routes to their destinations.

Waze is a name familiar to many drivers here and one that an increasing number of people are becoming more dependent on as the roads continue to change.

The app not only plots out the fastest route but also points out traffic jams and hazards based on user feedback.

Available on Android and iOS, the free, community-based traffic and navigation mobile app has been downloaded between 50,000,000  to 100,000,000 times worldwide from the Google Play store.

“Globally, Malaysia is in the top five for the highest number of users and in the top three for share of population, meaning the number of users compared to the country population,” said Amir Mirzaee, global head of business development for Waze.

The biggest Waze market in Asia, Malaysia is followed by Indonesia and the Philippines, with an estimated 1.5 million local users of the app at the beginning of the year with a 50% increase in KL alone.

Mirzaee said that while overall growth in Malaysia was fast, many local users were unaware of the option for Bahasa Malaysia voice navigation, which features the voice of Hitz.FM DJ Ean.  

For instance, nine roads were recently renamed in Kuala Lumpur - Waze amended them within 24 hours.