Maxis eyes 1.4 million Waze users nationwide

Maxis Bhd aims to capture over 1.4 million Waze users nationwide with its newly-launched Safe Mode Kids, a navigation application on Waze using voices of Malaysian children.

Maxis head of marketing services, Sulin Lau, said the Safe Mode Kids used voices of children to give safety reminders, traffic alerts and directions to motorists.

"A survey showed that 97 percent of Malaysian parents claimed they drove much safer when their children were in the car with them.

"However, most of the time the kids can't accompany them on their daily commute and therefore Maxis teamed up with Waze to create a little add-on application for safe driving," she told reporters after the launch of the world's first Safe Mode Voice Pack here Wednesday.

Lau said Safe Mode Kids, the first collaboration between Waze and Maxis, was also timely in view of the coming festive season, which would be the busiest travel periods of the year.

The Safe Mode Kids, which is different from other Waze voice packs that usually features a single celebrity voice, invites children aged between three and 12 to develop an innovative way of reminding parents and other drivers to drive safely.

"In addition to our usual navigation assistance, you also have the children reminding you to focus on the road with safety reminders such as "Eyes on the Road, "Accident Reported Ahead" and "Buckle Up" before starting your trip," Lau said.

She said depending on the volume of downloads, the voice pack would also be available next year, adding that, it would also be available to over 50 million Waze users worldwide.