Waze CEO recently sat down for an interview with Business Insider, and spoke about the company’s $1 billion acquisition by Google, self-driving cars, and why the company attributes Waze’s widespread success to Apple and celebrates an annual “Tim Cook Day.”

The reasoning dates back to 2012, when Apple Maps’ debacle proved a worst case scenario for the company, forcing CEO Tim Cook to write a public apology letter over the numerous Apple Maps shortcomings.

In the letter, Apple took the rather unprecedented step of recommending users try out alternative map options found in the App Store. One of those apps? You guessed it, Waze.

Waze CEO Noam Bardin described the day as a “defining moment for the company”. Here’s how he explains the company’s annual Cook celebration.

Interestingly, he mentions how when Waze was first developing a mobile app, “all the logic said BlackBerry”. Ultimately, it’s a good thing the company decided on developing for iOS, otherwise the CEO believes he wouldn’t be here.

So you can imagine the response when that happened from Apple — they were definitely not very happy — but it’s what I said. The next day, Apple Maps came out, and suddenly I went from being about to get fired, app get pulled from the App Store, to “I saw the future” and “I knew what I was talking about.”

Tim Cook came out and actually put out a letter apologizing for Apple Maps, and he said until that comes out you can use Microsoft, Google, and Waze. That was our coming-out moment in the US, and from there things start to pick up pace, eventually ending in the acquisition in 2013.

Bardin further chimed in his opinion of Uber, Tesla and the future of self-driving vehicles.

On Tesla’s loyal, Apple-like consumer base:

On Uber and self-driving vehicles:

The CEO closes his interview by offering one piece of advice to any entrepreneur who might be listening.

…

We are, I believe, 10 to 15 years at least away from the average American being in a self-driving car.

Bardin first joined Waze in 2009 with around 14,000 daily users. Today, the app reaches well over 100 million active monthly users.

Are you an active user of Waze? Which do you prefer, Apple Maps or Waze? Let us know down in the comments below!