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Ever since Google acquired Waze, the popular community-powered navigation app, for a cool $1.2 billion in 2013, there’s been speculation that the tech behemoth would one day pull the plug on the plucky GPS tool with over 100 million active monthly users.

Instead, it’s felt more like death by a thousand cuts. After years of piecemeal integration of Waze features into Google Maps, last week Google executed what could be a fatal blow by taking away Waze’s main point of difference.

Whether you use an iPhone or Android smartphone, you can now get real-time reports from the Google Maps community on crashes, speed traps and traffic slowdowns. Also new is the ability to report four new types of incidents – construction, lane closures, disabled vehicles, and objects on the road. Sound familiar?

Up to now, the ability to report and receive reports about upcoming traffic, road hazards and police sightings is what has made Waze stand out from all the other navigation apps out there. If drivers can get the same features from faster-loading Google Maps, which is superior in practically every other way, why do they still need Waze?

Waze won’t die immediately, of course. It will be a slow demise, since it will take some time for Google Maps users to start using the new social features and for Waze users to migrate. But migrate they will.

Apple is in the rear view mirror.

It’s likely that Google’s willingness to cannibalize Waze is spurred by the arrival of another noteworthy competitor on the horizon. Last summer at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference in California, Apple demonstrated how its own revamped Maps app will soon compete with Google and Waze.

Then, earlier this month, CNET reported that Apple Maps rolled out a slew of new features, including live transit information and a feature that allows users share their estimated time of arrival. There’s also a new “Look Around” tool that’s similar to Google Street View, and the Siri voice assistant has been enlisted to give more natural directions. While Apple Maps doesn’t have the social integration of Waze and Google Maps that allows for real-time reporting, it’s clear that Apple is coming to play in Google’s sandbox.

For now, Apple’s new and improved Maps is only available in just over a dozen states: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia, as well as Washington DC.

If Apple's rollout goes according to plan, the new Maps application will be accessible throughout the U.S. by the end of the year and internationally in 2020.

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