Waze (nav app) Sci-Fi Voice Guides

Kevin

Code Monkey
Staff member
I've been using Waze for a bit now to help with drive-times to work. For those not familiar with Waze it is free a GPS navigation app that is crowd-sourced to provide close to real-time updates to traffic, accidents, construction, police (*cough* not that I'd need to worry about speeding or anything *cough*), and other possible road hazards.

The company behind Waze was bought out by Google but it remains independently operated, unlike the usual scenario where a tech company buys out a small developer in order to integrate the tech into their own offerings or to revamp it to match their other products. The good news, for those that aren't fans of the Google sphere, is that the app is not "Google'lized" while the bad news is that the app is not "Google'lized" meaning that it doesn't take advantage of Google Maps.

In the past Waze has offered promotional voice guides from The Terminator, Elvis, Stephen Colbert, and even Colonel Sanders from KFC. There's been a lot of voices over the years but most of them are usually just available on a temporary basis.

The Terminator is no longer available but in anticipation of The Force Awakens movie opening there is now a Star Wars voice pack available! Featuring the voice of C-3PO and the sounds of R2-D2 & BB-8, the pack also includes various Star Wars virtual 'road goodies' that you can find as you travel.

Links
 
And the Star Wars pack is gone. :( Apparently it was only for a limited time and on Dec 31 it was automatically removed from the app installations.
 
The current promo Waze voice? Morgan Freeman! :eek:

Freeman plays the Vice President in the new new movie London Has Fallen (sequel to Olympus Has Fallen) and to help promote it Waze is offering a Freeman voice pack in character from the movie. What that means is that, yes, Freeman will be the voice of your GPS navigation which could be interesting but the prompts address you as if you were the President.

Yay? Nay?

If you're running Waze, just select Settings => Sound => Navigation Guidance.

Waze - Official Blog: Morgan Freeman: Our Newest Voice on Waze
 
Every day that I am onsite at the office I drive about 25 miles each way and have to chuckle a bit when Waze indicates that somebody has reported a pothole. In PA it's easier to identify the roads that *don't* have potholes! :LOL:
 
I wonder if you can reproduce the original Cylon speech, I'm nutso for it...
tumblr_nbqn5j9bjw1s2wio8o3_500.gif
 
I wonder if you can reproduce the original Cylon speech, I'm nutso for it...
We're getting closer. The current version of Waze (on Android at least) allows you to record your own voice commands but it doesn't support loading your own voice pack yet so every individual command would need to be saved on your device and it couldn't be shared.
 
We're getting closer. The current version of Waze (on Android at least) allows you to record your own voice commands but it doesn't support loading your own voice pack yet so every individual command would need to be saved on your device and it couldn't be shared.
I heard on Mr. roboto from Styx, Lets Groove tonight and other bands had a very cylon sounding sinth sounds, I bet back then the equipment was large, I know the series the voice was added on top. I love that sound though.:cool:
 
I have a near daily ritual of stopping off at WaWa during my morning commute to work. For those not familiar with that name, "WaWa" is the name of a chain of small convenience stores in the NE USA. They also happen to have some darn good cheap coffee which is one of my few vices in life.

For the past several months, since it first became available, I've been using the Cookie Monster voice in Waze. I almost always have Waze up & running while heading to work; where the office is located any kind of accident can cause traffic jams backed up for miles.

When I stop off at WaWa I grab my phone and put in my back pocket because I use the WaWa store mobile app to pay for the coffee run. The mobile app makes it really easy for me to run in & pay while accumulating 'reward' offers like more free coffee.

So what happens if you put your phone in your back pocket while it's running Waze and you run into WaWa to grab some coffee? While you're walking around anybody near you gets to hear your butt loudly saying "Turn Right", "Turn Left", "Go Straight", and more in the voice of Cookie Monster! :LOL:
 
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