How to disable emergency vehicle notification?

[Volt0]

As a firefighter/paramedic frequently stopped in the middle of a highway or trying to get to a 911 scene, I appreciate the warnings I get about nearby emergency vehicles. Traffic accidents are the number one killer of 1st responders. All other causes put together (fires, heart attacks, shootings, etc.) don't amount to the deaths to EMS, fire, and police personnel resulting from working MVCs. Don't forget that on the other end of that could be your mother, daughter, wife, sister, etc. in a crushed car across several lanes of traffic around a blind turn on a stormy night on your local roadway. It's a single tap on a screen and it disappears.

First and foremost, thank you for your service.

Secondly, if you would appreciate the warnings, then by all means, I hope that it continues to work for you.

For me, I've grown tired of all of the distractions in life, and I find many of them have crossed the boundary of just plain annoying into something ... almost debilitating at times. I don't like seeing ads ( i.e. the US version of propaganda ), I don't like gas station pumps trying to sell tampons to old men, I don't like solicitors at my door ( especially when I'm on a conference call or when there's someone sleeping in the house ), and I damn sure don't like some pop-up covering my navigation that requires me to take my eyes away from where I'm going and taking my hand off the wheel. I also know when it's time to request that my passengers settle-down, and my passengers respect me enough to participate as an active copilot that looks out for our safety ( this is quite a bit different than having a back seat driver ).

I relate to those people that have to turn down their radio, just to see where they are going. I'm really not too bothered by the notification of construction, ems, or what have you. What I am bothered about is the implementation of that notification system, and I'm also at the point where it's cried wolf way too many times - when it goes off, my 1st assumption is that there is nothing of concern that I don't already know about, and my 2nd assumption is that it's nothing in the path of my trajectory. Its already trained me to NOT care, when it pops up. When I'm driving by myself, I have an expectation that I can control/limit the amount of distractions that can come from w/in my own vehicle. I would be ok with something that didn't take over my screen, or that I could clear w/out taking my hands off the wheel, and if it was actually pertinent to the route that I'm on.

For me, it's getting to the point where I'm ready to turn the entire head unit OFF, and just run with an iPad. It's just too much non sense, in your face, all the time; I'm done with it.

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[Sweetums]

Yet in aviation, whatever airline pilots are flying will automatically say, "too low", "pull up", or "terrain, terrain". IIRC, the Jeep vocal warning says "traffic incident up ahead", "construction ahead", or something like that. This is the same thing. You dont have to look at the screen. As far as clear sunny days, like most of us, you're probably sleeping when it's dark out. Therefore, 95% of the time you're driving, it's on a clear sunny day. Finally, are you actually complaining about emergency vehicles having TOO MANY lights? I'm not even going to dignify that with any kind of response.

I didn't say they had too many lights, I said they have plenty of lights to provide ample warning.

You're getting defensive. There are already plenty of distractions in modern vehicles, most drivers are going to hear an unusual prompt and look down to see what is making the noise, not out the window.

Back to the pilot analogy, aircraft also have a HUD so they can get all relevant information while still keeping situational awareness and looking at what's happening outside the cockpit.

 

[Viper501]

I could well be wrong but my brain is saying there is a setting to turn them off somewhere in the head unit. I get them as well but rarely and normally only for Fire or Police. Never for roadside tow trucks.

 

[firemedic2714]

I didn't say they had too many lights, I said they have plenty of lights to provide ample warning.

You're getting defensive. There are already plenty of distractions in modern vehicles, most drivers are going to hear an unusual prompt and look down to see what is making the noise, not out the window.

Back to the pilot analogy, aircraft also have a HUD so they can get all relevant information while still keeping situational awareness and looking at what's happening outside the cockpit.

Yes, I am getting defensive because this whole thread is basically saying that my safety and the safety of every other public servant isn't worth a simple warning on a radio screen that can disappear with a single tap on that screen.

 

[Sweetums]

Yes, I am getting defensive because this whole thread is basically saying that my safety and the safety of every other public servant isn't worth a simple warning on a radio screen that can disappear with a single tap on that screen.

We are on the same side, I'm saying that adding even a single moment of inattention to deal with a pop-up is more than most drivers can handle. I don't want to add that distraction when they should be operating their vehicle.

This is feel-good Tech-bro BS. Adding more interconnected things vying for our attention has been the one hammer in their toolbox since the 1990s. I'd bet you the guy with the 1972 Chevy truck, an FM radio, and a flip-phone has no trouble not running into a firetruck. More popups, beeps, alerts, screens, and force feedback isn't going to solve the problem of people hitting emergency vehicles. (Hell, Teslas can't help but run into emergency scenes even with the human completely removed from the equation.)

Remember when they added elevated center brake lights for more safety? Rear end collisions remained exactly the same. Zero difference, zilch, nada. I looked into this tech and I can't find a single study anywhere that shows these warnings do anything to improve first responder safety. Lots of claims about how the tech is going to fix everything through networked device communication blah blah blah; same tech-bro bullshit as always - but no actual proof that it has the desired outcome.

But hey, what do I know, I've only made studying human behavior my life's work. This tech is a solution looking for a problem so someone can IPO their startup and go have boat drinks. The mistake you're making is thinking this feature has anything to do with safety, it's a PR stunt so someone can lobby for more mandatory tech for which they are the sole vendor.

 

[Camaroboi13]

Yes, I am getting defensive because this whole thread is basically saying that my safety and the safety of every other public servant isn't worth a simple warning on a radio screen that can disappear with a single tap on that screen.

I’ve managed to drive hundreds of thousands of miles without hitting you or your colleagues, and I’ve done it without some stupid screen that can disappear with a single tap on that screen. All I’m saying is it should be my choice whether I want to see that screen in my vehicle, not yours.

 

[Volt0]

Yes, I am getting defensive because this whole thread is basically saying that my safety and the safety of every other public servant isn't worth a simple warning on a radio screen that can disappear with a single tap on that screen.

If that’s what you’re getting from this thread, may I suggest that you have a respected, educated colleague ( or mentor ) of yours read the posts of others ( w/out influencing their interpretation ) and have them share with you their interpretation.

 

[IamPro2A]

Unless I missed it, nobody seems to have noticed the OP said he was using Waze for navigation, so he's getting the HAAS alerts from the Waze App, not SiriusXM or Uconnect. I do not think Waze currently offers the option to disable them, and I doubt there is anything Jscan or Tazer could do either since it's happening inside the app. It seems Waze is fairly open to suggestions and improvements. Maybe if they changed it so it didn't cover critical parts of the screen? Maybe make the text flash transparent red or something so you could still see the map. You should join their support forum and post over there.
https://www.waze.com/discuss/

 

[Mr._Bill]

Unless I missed it, nobody seems to have noticed the OP said he was using Waze for navigation, so he's getting the HAAS alerts from the Waze App, not SiriusXM or Uconnect. I do not think Waze currently offers the option to disable them, and I doubt there is anything Jscan or Tazer could do either since it's happening inside the app. It seems Waze is fairly open to suggestions and improvements. Maybe if they changed it so it didn't cover critical parts of the screen? Maybe make the text flash transparent red or something so you could still see the map. You should join their support forum and post over there.
https://www.waze.com/discuss/

The OP made it quite clear that he is blaming the Head Unit for popping up the HAAS alerts over top of his Waze App. I used to regularly get the alerts on my '20 Overland. I do not remember having received any since I got my '23 High Altitude in February. I use Google Maps and Android Auto. I have active subscriptions to Sirius Guardian and XM Radio.

 

[firemedic2714]

If that’s what you’re getting from this thread, may I suggest that you have a respected, educated colleague ( or mentor ) of yours read the posts of others ( w/out influencing their interpretation ) and have them share with you their interpretation.

Let's not resort to intelligence insults and condescension. I'm very educated and have been a mentor myself more than once. I serve the public because I want to, not because it's the best job I could get. It was not my intention to hijack your thread and I apologize for that so I'll end it here. We'll just have to agree to disagree.

 

[IamPro2A]

The OP made it quite clear that he is blaming the Head Unit for popping up the HAAS alerts over top of his Waze App. I used to regularly get the alerts on my '20 Overland. I do not remember having received any since I got my '23 High Altitude in February. I use Google Maps and Android Auto. I have active subscriptions to Sirius Guardian and XM Radio.

Yes, he made it quite clear he's BLAMING the head unit, but it's not the head unit that is doing that in his case. It's the navigation app he is using that the head unit is simply mirroring. Waze does those HAAS alerts internally. They are being generated by the app itself in this case. The only way he can disable THAT is if he can disable it in the app itself, which he currently can not do. If he unplugged his phone from the usb and displayed Waze on his phone, he would see the exact same thing on his phone screen. Is THAT being caused by the head unit too?

https://www.waze.com/en/wazeforcities/casestudies/keeping-streets-safer-one-alert-at-a-time/

 

[MrBones]

It may or may not be the case for OP that Waze is the culprit but Stellantis has bought into it.

https://www.axios.com/2023/05/26/emergency-vehicle-warnings

 

[Volt0]

Fwiw, the original image/example doesn’t even have CarPlay turned on. So Waze is out of scope for causing the popup.

When Waze shows an alert ( debri on road, or disabled vehicle on the shoulder ), they do so by making a smaller pop-up in the lower left, w/out canvassing the entire screen, it automatically goes away in a relatively short period of time, and they don’t appear to have nearly as many false-positives.

if the HAAS system did that, I would be happy with it.

@IamPro2A you’re close: the look and feel is that some other app is taking the top z-order ( html term ) to cover the entire screen;I’ll check out that link, but it doesn’t have the same look and feel as the Waze app ( I would bet that the developers of Waze or Google Maps have better GUI developers, with a stronger focus on the customer interactions)

 

[IamPro2A]

Fwiw, the original image/example doesn’t even have CarPlay turned on. So Waze is out of scope for causing the popup.

When Waze shows an alert ( debri on road, or disabled vehicle on the shoulder ), they do so by making a smaller pop-up in the lower left, w/out canvassing the entire screen, it automatically goes away in a relatively short period of time, and they don’t appear to have nearly as many false-positives.

if the HAAS system did that, I would be happy with it.

@IamPro2A you’re close: the look and feel is that some other app is taking the top z-order ( html term ) to cover the entire screen;I’ll check out that link, but it doesn’t have the same look and feel as the Waze app ( I would bet that the developers of Waze or Google Maps have better GUI developers, with a stronger focus on the customer interactions)

I was just going by your OP which mentioned it happening while using Waze.
I use Waze virtually every time I'm driving (and I have almost 90k on my Gladiator), but with Android Auto and no Stellantis Nav or Sirius Guardian (I special ordered my Gladiator, and since I use Waze I specifically did not get the Jeep vav system or other BS I didn't want/need). I also live in rural NH, and I do not see those HAAS alerts here often enough to remember how it looked. I think I've only seen it twice, and both time I was in a populous area like around NYC or Boston.
I'm also a beta tester for Waze, but again, the HAAS stuff is not something that really impacts me right now, so I have not paid it much attention other than the fact they added it in years ago. It also means I'm usually running a version of Waze other people are not, so what I see isn't always the same as everyone else.

 

[Volt0]

I was just going by your OP which mentioned it happening while using Waze.
I use Waze virtually every time I'm driving (and I have almost 90k on my Gladiator), but with Android Auto and no Stellantis Nav or Sirius Guardian (I special ordered my Gladiator, and since I use Waze I specifically did not get the Jeep vav system or other BS I didn't want/need). I also live in rural NH, and I do not see those HAAS alerts here often enough to remember how it looked. I think I've only seen it twice, and both time I was in a populous area like around NYC or Boston.
I'm also a beta tester for Waze, but again, the HAAS stuff is not something that really impacts me right now, so I have not paid it much attention other than the fact they added it in years ago. It also means I'm usually running a version of Waze other people are not, so what I see isn't always the same as everyone else.

Where I've traveled recently, I've seen these popups, with and without having Waze open. I wouldn't be surprised if Waze has their own variant, and I would expect the user-experience to be way better, more thought out, and less of a distraction for the driver. My line of thinking is that the display for Waze is way more critical for ppl when nearing a turn, or taking an exit, or trying to figure out which lane to migrate to - under those scenarios, I would suspect it to also be very likely for the driver to be making some quick context switching, and it also likely aligns with a higher probability of encountering safety-workers/construction. It's during these moments where the HAAS display, covering the entire screen, requiring additional driver input, in the middle of higher-risk portions of a drive, is completely the wrong implementation -> that's why I want to disable it.

Last night even, I had 3 of these popup about road construction, even though there was no road construction visible on my route to the pet hospital. For those, I was driving straight on a 4 lane highway, and no harm / no foul, but again was a case of the system crying wolf.

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