Andy Walker / Android Authority
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TL;DR
- An APK teardown of Garmin Connect 5.31 reveals a feature that can share a cyclist’s location via LiveTrack on Waze.
- Putting a marker on the Waze map to alert drivers to upcoming cyclists can be life-saving.
- Garmin LiveTrack is free, but it’s unclear if this feature will require a Garmin Connect Plus subscription.
On the road, there are perhaps no two greater natural enemies than cyclists and drivers. Navigating a space that is built far more for one than the other can cause quiet fuming, full-out fights, and, in far too many encounters, tragedy. Garmin now looks like it’s working on a way to ease tensions between these two groups by putting the LiveTrack position of cyclists on Waze maps.
Garmin’s LiveTrack, which is available in the Garmin Connect app, knows exactly where someone wearing a Garmin device is, and shares that real-time location information with the person’s friends and family. An APK teardown of Garmin Connect 5.31 by Gadgets & Wearables reveals what looks like an upcoming feature that would also share that information with Waze. It shows options for “Share location with Waze,” “Share your rides with Waze,” and “Waze location sharing,” as well as privacy and sharing permissions. While LiveTrack works with many activities, this feature is definitely for cyclists, with wording that says a cyclist using LiveTrack can share their location to people using Waze.
The teardown did not reveal how a cyclist would be displayed on the map. Putting a marker on the Waze map to alert drivers to upcoming cyclists can be life-saving, especially in low-visibility situations, around bends in the road, and on narrow roads. Cyclist deaths have steadily increased since 2010 and reached an all-time high of 1,166 in 2023, according to NHTSA data. When those accidents involved cars, the cyclists were most likely to be hit by the front of the vehicle, so advance warning for drivers could serve to prevent some fatalities.
It’s unclear from the teardown exactly which Garmin devices will support sharing cyclists’ locations with Waze. While Garmin LiveTrack is free, it’s not known whether the cyclist feature will require a Garmin Connect Plus subscription.
Waze itself still has a ways to go when it comes to supporting cyclists. The app does not have a mode for cyclists and does not display bike lanes.
