The navigation app Waze is dropping Google Assistant support for iPhones, citing "ongoing difficulties" with integrating the service. The company says it plans on replacing it with an "enhanced voice integration solution" at some point in the future. Google Assistant will still work for Android users. This is happening a full year after iPhone users began reporting issues related to Google Assistant, with many people noting that voice commands were totally broken. Waze says that it has "not been working as intended for over a year" and that it would rather "phase out Google Assistant on iOS" instead of "patching a feature that has faced ongoing difficulties." As previously stated, Google Assistant for Waze will continue to work on Android phones.

There's a theory I've been floating around for a while that I want to try on you: Google's 2013 acquisition of Waze sealed the election for Keir Starmer. I know, but bear with me. Waze was founded in 2006 as digital mapping project FreeMap Israel, but slowly evolved into a GPS navigation service by the beginning of the next decade. Even in the heady days of the early app economy, Google Maps was dominant, pre-installed as it was on to iPhones and Android. But Waze had a secret weapon: it could get you where you were going faster.

Are you the type who turns on GPS navigation no matter where you're headed, or do you just wing it? You might know where you're going, but Google Maps, Apple Maps and Waze have a few slick tools beyond plain old directions. These hidden hacks let you find the best gas prices along your route, avoid leaving a digital track, change the robotic-like navigator voice to something fun and help you find your way around mega malls and airports. Are you the type who turns on GPS navigation no matter where you're headed, or do you just wing it? You might know where you're going, but Google Maps, Apple Maps and Waze have a few slick tools beyond plain old directions Want to sneak your way to a place without leaving digital tracks?

Google today launched AI Platform Prediction in general availability, a service that lets developers prep, build, run, and share machine learning models in the cloud. It's based on a Google Kubernetes Engine backend and features an architecture designed for high reliability, flexibility, and low overhead latency. IDC predicts that worldwide spending on cognitive and AI systems will reach $77.6 billion in 2022, up from $24 billion in revenue last year. Gartner agrees: In a recent survey of executives from thousands of businesses worldwide, it found that AI implementation grew a whopping 270% in the past four years and 37% in the past year alone. With AI Platform Prediction, Google adds yet another managed AI service to its portfolio, beating back competitors like Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM.

Planning a trip on Waze just got a little easier. You can now plan a drive in your web browser of choice using the Live Map and then save it to your mobile app by clicking the "Save to app" button. When you set your preferred time of arrival, Waze will tell you when to leave the house in order to get there on time. The app will even send you push notifications based on real-time traffic data, so if traffic starts slowing down, it will encourage you to hit the road earlier. Waze users can now view their saved locations on the web and select them when searching for an origin or destination, so you won't have to enter your home address for every trip.

Big data and machine learning have emerged as fundamental tools for companies and cities looking to unlock insights into people and places, enabled by the myriad connected devices that now permeate society. The likes of PredictHQ leverage data from global events to help companies like Uber and airlines forecast demand, while fellow San Francisco startup Streetlight Data aggregates mobile app data to help cities measure the flow of traffic. In a similar vein, Israeli startup Waycare has been setting out to help city planners make better-informed traffic-management decisions. It does so by tapping historical and real-time data inputs from connected cars, telematics, roadside cameras, fleet management platforms, public transit services, construction projects, and even weather forecasts to build a more complete picture of what's happening on a city's thoroughfares. Individually, these various data sets can do little to help municipalities make planning decisions, but the sum -- as the saying goes -- is far greater than its parts.

Waze is playing even more nicely with Apple after it enabled CarPlay support back in September. The latest version of its iOS app lets you use Siri Shortcuts to find your way to a destination. You'll be able to set up shortcuts for things like your morning commute, the drive home and directions to your favorite places. The benefits of using voice control for navigation while driving are fairly obvious, and Waze's addition of Siri Shortcuts offers users more of an alternative to Apple Maps. The update will surely come as a boon for those who use it to steer clear of traffic, crashes and construction.

There is a lot of hype for the accomplishments of Artificial Intelligence. Nextbigfuture keeps you up to date about the achievements made in AI. Two hours ago Nextbigfuture published what IBM has done with AI. We marveled at our own magnificence…. Waze and Google Maps use a lot of Artificial Intelligence and real-time updates to provide the best driving instructions.

The first time the Tesla Model 3 changed lanes by itself to pass a slower vehicle, I was overcome with an ice-cold "this is the future" feeling. Stuck behind a slow-moving garbage truck on New Jersey's Highway 17, the Model 3 suggested a passing maneuver, I agreed, and lo and behold, automatic lane change. But by the fourth time the car changed lanes, I was left wondering why Tesla's Autopilot wasn't smart enough to merge back into the original lane of traffic. Because what is the future if not endlessly nit-picking every technological achievement until we forget why we were amazed in the first place? Tesla has a lot staked on Autopilot.

Google wants to do more than just organize the world's information. It wants to infuse itself into our lives and replace several of our daily tasks robotically. That, clearly, is the goal, as outlined this week. Forget about those shiny new Pixel phones, tablets and speakers that Google announced this week at a splashy event in New York. Or a new talking video speaker that takes on Amazon's Echo Show with a focus on Google visuals like mapping, calendar, and, of course, all that YouTube content.