Waze's primary innovation was to crowdsource near-realtime traffic information. They weren't the first[1], but they were the first to do it on a large scale. Some of it is automatic (e.g. speed, which usually reflects traffic conditions) and some of it is interactive, encouraging users with "points" to fumble with their phones in order to report police sightings, road obstructions, etc.

> No one I know uses it and most never heard of it.

Intersting — everyone uses it in California, to the point that it strongly affects traffic patterns[2]. Where are you?

[1] https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/dash [2] http://www.gq.com/story/waze-ruining-los-angels-side-streets