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Waze Launches First Hands-Free Traffic Reporting for iPhone; Sets New Standard for Mobile Commuting

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Palo Alto, CA (PRWEB) February 09, 2012

Waze, the now 12 million-strong community of traffic resisters, is announcing today the next breakthrough in the global fight against traffic: hands-free operation of its popular iPhone app. With the simple wave of a hand, drivers can now speak to navigate, report traffic, and alert others to potentially hazardous incidents on the road. With the launch, Waze hopes to set a hands-free standard for the future of the traffic-reporting industry, as well as any driver-focused products to come.

How it Works

Unlike other touch-activated speech recognition systems, the latest version of Waze uses the iPhones native proximity sensor to initiate voice control. When activated with a wave past the screen, Waze prompts the driver to speak the intended commands, without ever having to touch the phone or its screen. For example a spoken command of report traffic will prompt the driver to specify heavy, moderate, or standstill. Waze will then place that alert on the map, offering a drivers the ability to share details normally reserved for users in passenger mode. The new feature also understands destination-related commands such as drive home or drive to work, so drivers can continue to focus on the road rather than the screen.

A Completely Hands-Free Experience

In addition to Wazes new hands-free traffic reporting, Waze enhances the experience by allowing the use of Apples native Siri speech recognition for specific addresses as well as local search queries. To further ensure minimum driver distraction, Waze also disables text input into the app while the car is in motion. The result is a completely hands-free navigation experience for Waze drivers from start to finish.

Waze has found a touch-free means for drivers to safely interact with their traffic information while driving, said Roger C. Lanctot, Associate Director of Strategy Analytics Global Automotive Practice. With a swipe of the hand drivers will now be able to access the information they need and report on incidents they see. The implications for crowd sourced traffic information are significant.

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ASU, Caltech, UCLA and USC Showcase Top University Startups and Venture-Ready Technologies at Head Start(up) 2011 in Palo Alto

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Palo Alto, CA (PRWEB) May 10, 2011

Arizona Technology Enterprises (AzTE), the exclusive intellectual property management and technology transfer organization of Arizona State University, today joined with the tech transfer offices of Caltech, UCLA and USC to host Head Start(up) 2011, a half-day conference in Palo Alto giving Silicon Valley investors a look at some of the universities most promising startups and venture-ready technologies.

The commercialization of university research generates new jobs, new companies and even entire new industries, said Augie Cheng, AzTEs managing director. The startups and technologies that ASU, Caltech, UCLA and USC are presenting have that same potential, and were excited to be doing this in a forum loaded with top venture capital firms and angel investors.

Universities continue to conduct the majority of basic research in the United States. In the last two decades, more than 75 percent of all industrial patents issued in the United States have cited academic research as a key source of new knowledge. Studies have also shown companies spun out of research universities have a far greater success rate than other startups.

Investors are always on the lookout for the next great university startup, said Steve Jurvetson, managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. This event is a great way to see lots of technologies in a concentrated, efficient format. Im excited to see what the universities have to show us.

Approximately 60 invitation-only investors came from top Silicon Valley venture funds, including Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Intel Capital, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Redpoint Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, Sofinnova Ventures and many others.

A full list of presented technologies and startups can be found on the conference website: http://www.headstartup2011.com/technologies.

About Arizona Technology Enterprises (AzTE)

AzTE is a non-profit organization that operates as the exclusive intellectual property management and technology transfer organization for ASU and its research enterprise. Comprised of industry and university veterans, AzTE brings together ASUs researchers and industry partners to transform discoveries into marketable products and services, taking innovation out of the lab and into the commercial marketplace. AzTE currently offers for licensing more than 300 novel technologies in the life and physical sciences. For more information: http://www.azte.com/.

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