If you’re using Waze and need to take your eyes off the road to control the music along with the map, new updates are starting to come out. This allows you to spend more time driving and less time messing around with the touch screen. MacRumors I’m reporting it Waze has started deployment Support for Apple CarPlay Dashboard. This allows you to see directions along with media controls, calendar events and more on the CarPlay home screen. When I heard that, I rushed to my car, and certainly Waze’s instructions appeared on the home screen.

The company has started beta testing of this feature End of last monthHowever, the CarPlay dashboard has existed for Apple Maps users since the launch of iOS 13 (iOS 13.4 and later is only open to third-party developers). The golden rule of the car UI is basically “do not see or touch the screen as much as possible”, so integration is a benefit of safe driving.

Prior to this update, if I wanted to change the song being played, I had to go to the music app, press the next button, and then go back to Waze. It could be tapped 3-6 times on the screen, depending on whether Waze is in the side app launcher. This is especially true when traveling at 70 mph. Now you can see both the Waze and music controls you need for the next turn on the same screen, with just one tap to change the song.

In line with the safety theme, this update also includes lane guidance. This is a feature that tells you in advance which lane you need to enter at the next turn or highway exit. This should help reduce the moments when I sometimes stumble “I have to cross four lanes in a quarter mile”. Happy (and safe) driving!