Google acquired Waze in 2013 to add the community-based navigation app to its mapping business.
Waze was founded in Israel in 2006 and became known for using reports from drivers to provide information about traffic, crashes, police activity and road closures. Google announced the acquisition in June 2013, reportedly valuing Waze at about $1.1 billion.
Waze continued operating as a separate app after the acquisition, while Google Maps remained Google’s primary mapping service. The two products share some data and technology, but they have different interfaces and communities, so Waze is not simply a renamed version of Google Maps.