Kakao Navi redesign adds proactive congestion alerts and lane guidance

Kakao Mobility announced on November 11 a full redesign of the Kakao Navi home screen and driving screen, adding proactive traffic alerts along with revised junction and lane guidance, according to techm.kr.

The home screen's fixed destination card automatically shows congestion toward work on weekday mornings and toward home in the evening. When expected travel time is delayed by more than 5 minutes, the app summarizes road conditions, such as a 20-minute delay or an 18-minute, 2.8 km jam caused by an accident.

Traffic jam details, previously visible only after entering a congested section, are now available during route search and while driving. A new proactive lane guidance feature recommends entering the right lane from 2 km before a congested junction, and when only the immediate junction is congested it can suggest changing to the 5th lane after 1 km.

For consecutive junctions within 500 m, road names and directions such as Gangbyeonbuk-ro and Hannam Bridge are displayed on the route line. The detailed screen shows junction order numerically, such as next entry point guidance 1/2, and marks the easily mistaken nearby junction with a caution label.

The navigation engine is shared with Kakao Map's car directions, an external SDK and in-vehicle infotainment systems. Real driving traffic from hundreds of thousands of professional drivers, including taxi and designated-driver services, is used to improve route prediction and ETA accuracy.