Merely days after the government banned civil servants from using Waze during official duties—and urged the wider public to ditch the app over its Israeli ties—the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) and developer Prosignal Consortium Sdn. Bhd. (PCSB) have been forced to temporarily shut down the core navigation functionality of the local alternative, TuJu, to perform urgent corrective works.
According to a notice published by LLM, TuJu is currently undergoing emergency system maintenance following a severe surge in traffic that overwhelmed its servers. While highway CCTV streams and basic information features remain operational, the primary turn-by-turn navigation function has been disabled.
Despite the notice on LLM’s social media channels, users opening the iOS app may find little to no clear indication inside the main navigation interface that the feature is currently offline. At the same time, LLM did not mention when the feature will be turned online again.
The abrupt suspension comes on the heels of mounting public frustration and scathing early reviews from drivers who attempted to use the app. Despite being pushed as a national alternative over data sovereignty and cybersecurity concerns raised by the National Cyber Security Agency (NACSA), TuJu has proven to be barely functional in real-world driving conditions.
Hands-on testing by SoyaCincau.com, along with widespread user reports on social media reveals critical flaws in the app’s fundamental performance. The app provides highly erratic turn-by-turn guidance, including repetitive generic prompts to “keep straight” while missing crucial highway exits, a complete lack of lane guidance, and even instances where routes were displayed as useless straight lines cutting across map terrain. In some cases, the app failed so severely that raw HTML code was displayed on screen.
Compounding these navigational failures is a complete lack of real-time traffic data, missing speed limit alerts, and zero support for Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. On iOS, the app disrupted audio playback without resuming music, adding further annoyance to an already dangerous distraction for drivers attempting to navigate complex Klang Valley interchanges.
In a press statement, LLM apologised for the widespread disruptions and admitted that system capacity and server stability were severely underprepared for the influx of users. Beyond infrastructure strain, the authority acknowledged that major overhauls are required regarding navigation accuracy, route precision, and overall user experience before the app can be considered reliable.
LLM stated that it is currently working with PCSB alongside the Ministry of Works (KKR) and NACSA to address cybersecurity, data governance, and core platform issues. However, with public ratings plummeting across both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store, the developer faces a steep uphill battle to rebuild trust and deliver an app that actually works.
