KUALA LUMPUR: Motorists in Malaysia have more than 10 navigation applications to choose from as alternatives to Waze, including Citymapper and GrabMaps.
Road Safety Experts Association (RSEA) founder Jamil Manan Supri said other options included Google Maps, PINTAZ, HERE WeGo, Apple Maps, TomTom, Sygic GPS Navigation, OsmAnd, Petal Maps, Moovit and Organic Maps.
However, he said switching from Waze to alternative applications should be accompanied by technical and safety assessments to ensure the reliability of route information and the safety of road users.
"Waze has an advantage through community reports on traffic congestion, accidents and road hazards, but the information provided is not necessarily complete, accurate or up to date.
"Technology should help reduce risks, not create new dependencies that could increase them," he said when contacted.
Commenting on the shift towards locally developed alternatives such as TuJu and PINTAZ, Jamil said the applications should be given opportunities to be evaluated and improved based on their actual performance, rather than simply because they were developed in Malaysia.
He said assessments should cover location accuracy, real-time traffic information, route suitability, system reliability and ease of use.
"Being a locally developed application does not, in itself, prove that it is safer, more accurate or offers better protection," he said.
On cybersecurity and road safety, Jamil said the two issues should be assessed separately, although they were interconnected.
He said concerns over the collection and processing of location data should be addressed through clear privacy policies, while allegations of data misuse must be supported by evidence.
"Application developers should explain what types of data are collected, the purposes for which they are used, how long they are stored, third-party access and the protective measures in place," he said.
Yesterday, the government announced a ban on the use of Waze among civil servants to protect government information and users' personal data from potential misuse by the Israeli regime.
In a statement, the Prime Minister's Office said the decision took into account the status of Waze Mobile Ltd as a data controller incorporated and operating under Israeli law.
It said the government remained firm in its position and would close any avenue that could be exploited by the Israeli regime to threaten national security and the public.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was also reported yesterday as encouraging the public to use the locally developed TuJu application, developed by the Malaysian Highway Authority, as an alternative for road navigation.
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