How many different groups do you need to work on mapping applications?
Google offers so many online services, tools and applications that it is inevitable that we will find overlapping functions and features. Sometimes that ends up leading to a merger, as we’ve seen recently with Google Meet and Duo, or Hangouts merging with Google Chat. Now the search titan is undergoing an internal restructure to unite the teams developing Waze and Google Maps, though the apps will remain separate for now.
Google bought Waze in 2013, an app with 151 million monthly active users (MAUs). With detailed traffic data and fun stuff like regular limited-time festive and cultural changes in the app, users have remained engaged over the years. However, Maps is Google’s flagship navigation app, and The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that the company is combining the teams behind Maps and Waze to cut costs and optimize overlapping work across the two services.
The move appears to be tied to Google chief Sundar Pichai’s goal of making his company 20% more productive, with efforts spanning budget cuts, internal restructuring (as in this case), and more. Google has already announced a slowdown in hiring starting in what remains of 2022, but decisions like combining Maps and Waze suggest that new employees are unlikely to be onboarded en masse soon.
While the tech industry has seen massive layoffs recently, Google’s move also raises similar concerns about job security for the Waze team, but the company explicitly states that the restructuring wouldn’t require laying off anyone. However, a Google spokesperson told the WSJ that Waze CEO Neha Parikh will step down after the transition. Google insists it is still deeply committed to the Waze brand, its users and its community of volunteers.
We’ve recently seen Google Maps borrow a few features from Waze, and it seems likely that we’ll see the two services achieve greater feature parity and interoperability in the coming months. Given that customers in some markets prefer Waze over Maps, Google is unlikely to disband the app for customers of either navigation service. On the other hand, Google regularly unplugs Area 120 projects and other seemingly successful services, suggesting that one of the two map apps could eventually be taken down. It’s hard to speculate for sure, but it will be interesting to watch Google navigate the road (yes, pun intended) with the teams now under one roof.