Los Angeles, California - Alerts about hit-and-runs and kidnappings in Los Angeles will soon pop up on traffic app Waze, along with road closure information.
Mayor Eric Garcetti announced on Tuesday that the agreement was part of a data-sharing partnership between the West Coast city and and the Google-owned tech company.
The app has already begun showing street closures and will start including hit-and-run alerts and so-called Amber Alerts sent out for kidnappings in the coming months.
Garcetti said: “This is going to be updated in real-time, every two minutes, giving motorists the information they need to get home in time for dinner.”
‘WAZE ALSO TRACKS COPS’
The agreement to add notifications of hit-and-run and kidnapping alerts was reached on Monday “in a very good meeting” between Waze and Los Angeles police chief Charlie Beck, the mayor said.
In January, it emerged that Beck had sent a letter to the tech company's CEO lamenting that the Waze application posed a danger to police because of its ability to track their locations.
The LAPD chief said at the time that the shooter in a recent double murder of two New York police officers used Waze to track the location of cops.
Waze is a traffic and navigation application to which users contribute information in order to share real-time road information.
AFP