Kim Komando’s Tech Tips: Waymo Is Helping Cities Detect Potholes

Besides the Car Pro Show and our weekly newsletter, my other favorite radio show and newsletter is Kim Komando’s. We are on many of the same radio stations across America. She does for her listeners and newsletter subscribers exactly what I endeavor to do: Give you useful information to keep you up to date on the latest in cars, only she does it with technology and there is nobody who does it better. Not sure how she puts out a top-notch newsletter seven days a week, but she does.

With her permission, I comb her newsletters each week and curate a list of her tips and advice that I think you'll find relevant and interesting. Here's what I have for you this week!

As written in Kim Komando's newsletters:

• Talk to ChatGPT in your car: Being stuck in traffic could get interesting. If you have Apple CarPlay, update to iOS 26.4, connect your iPhone, select ChatGPT from your infotainment screen and hit New voice chat. Ask questions, get explanations, draft messages. The catch? Voice only mode for now, because, well, safety. Also no wake word, so you’ll need to tap the app to start a conversation.
• 3-second tech genius: Type your car’s year, make and model into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and ask: “What are the most common mechanical problems with this vehicle, what are the early warning signs and what should I never ignore?” You’ll get a list of known issues specific to your car, what symptoms to watch for and which problems turn into $4,000 repairs if you wait too long. Do it before your next oil change. Know what your mechanic knows before you walk in the door.
• Every YouTube shortcut you need: L skips forward 10 seconds, J goes back. K pauses, M mutes. Hit 0 to restart, 1 through 9 to jump to that percentage. Comma or period moves frame by frame. Shift + > speeds up, Shift + < slows down, 0.25 at a time. Ffor full screen. Bonus: Right-click any paused moment and click Copy video URL at current time to share from that exact point. Brilliant move, if I do say so myself.
• Phishing for points: I regret to inform you the dumbest bait on earth is working: fake expiring rewards points. The FTC says scammers are blasting texts that claim your loyalty balance dies today, hoping you panic-click before coffee. One tap can land you on a phishing page that steals card numbers, bank info, SSN, and drops malware on your phone. Ignore the link. Your CVS coupons aren’t worth digital saw-trap behavior.
• Waymo works public: Ever hit a pothole so hard you started driving in nervous silence? Imagine the car reporting it before your back does. Waymo’s autonomous fleet is scanning streets for potholes and feeding that data to cities and transportation agencies. So far, it’s found 500 in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin and Atlanta. Useful for drivers and very convenient for a company that needs city officials to keep saying yes.
• 3-second tech genius: Google Maps can warn you before the chaos. Search a restaurant or store and scroll down before you leave. You can check how busy it is at the moment, see when it usually gets packed and get your ETA with live traffic built in. Very handy when you would rather not arrive at peak madness and spend 20 minutes pretending the line is “not that bad.”
• Old tech does not age gracefully: That tablet that still technically works may be out of support. Search it on endoflife.date to see if updates and security fixes have dried up. No support usually means no security updates, which is a cute way of saying you’re on your own. If it is on its last legs, try Amazon’s trade-in program. They might soften the blow with a gift card toward your next upgrade.

Visit Kim Komando's website here →