[eli]

Yes, they definitely both take traffic into account when calculating a route. My suspicion is that they're actually using the same raw data, but Waze is tuned to be more aggressive. Waze routinely guides me off a main road onto a side street to avoid two blocks of congestion for a net gain of maybe 1 minute, Google Maps doesn't.

[fernandopj]

In my experience this is very much true - in Sao Paulo, Waze is heavily used by everyone, and I mostly use Ubers and taxis while working here - and the agressiveness in which Waze will suggest a 5-more-turns, using local roads, to gain (maybe) one minute really sets them apart from Google Maps.

Google Maps' UI is tuned to show you alternatives and their ETA, and it's up to you to take them or not - Waze will just update routes without user input.

[WhiteOwlLion]

Waze aggressiveness is ridiculous. They don't factor in the time waiting in queue to turn left, the intersections you may have to cross causing delays, etc versus just staying the course on a main road. The only benefit are the minute savers that fall for the new route clearing up traffic for me to stay the course. In that way, Waze is great for me while making others take "shortcuts" that really aren't shortcuts.