The talk of the industry may be autonomous vehicles, but going driverless is yet to be delivered to the consumer market. While we wait, there are plenty of apps promising to take the stress out of many of the most frustrating aspects of driving, from traffic to parking.

CBR runs down the top 5 driving apps, geared up to make journeys as smooth as possible.

1. Waze

OS: Android, iOS, Windows

Billed as the world’s largest community-based traffic and navigation app, Waze promises to give drivers the information needed to outsmart traffic. Connecting drivers to one another in real-time, drivers simply type in their destination and drive with the app open on their phone.

Users of the app can passively contribute traffic and other road data with the app open as they drive, or take a more active role by sharing road reports on accidents, police traps, or any other hazards along the way.

Waze sells the app as a ‘personal heads-up from a few million of your friends on the road’, with the app’s capabilities extending past traffic alerts to finding the cheapest petrol station on your route and coordinating arrival times with friends through facebook.

For those with short fuses when driving, or for those pressed for time, this app may just deliver on its promise – to outsmart traffic.

2. Apply Parking

OS: Android, iOS

If there is one aspect of driving which annoys more than traffic, its parking. Apply Parking seeks to take all stress away from even the most challenging parallel park, offering an easy-to-use interface which shows every Controlled Parking Zone in London.

Employing a handy colour coded system, Green Zones show you when it’s free to park and Red Zones tell you when restrictions apply. If free parking isn’t available, AppyParking offers other options like Paid Meter Bays and Off Street Car Parks.

Forget the 50p to park? The app also lets you book and pay for parking space using JustPark, while the app also features a Sat Nav service and a car locater function.

3. iOnRoad

OS: Android, iOS

Boasting collision warning, headway monitoring and off road warning, this app has all the warnings covered when it comes to driving.

Leveraging the power of modern computer vision algorithms and smart-phone cameras, iOnRoad gives a range of personal driving assistance functions such as augmented driving and "black-box" like video recording. This ‘black-box’ like recording, better known as telematics, has already logged millions of miles driven, providing users valuable feedback on their driving.

This app could be especially helpful to long-distance or motorway drivers, where the warning features could avert disaster in the event of a lapse of concentration.

4. PlugShare

OS: Android, iOS

For those embracing electric vehicles, one obstacle looms large – where can you charge while out and about? Hoping to solve this issue, PlugShare is the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) charging network with a database of 60,000 stations globally.

The app is certainly tailored to the demands of owning an EV – from browsing and searching the extensive database, to sharing electricity from home outlets with other EV owners.

The app lets you plan an entire journey and access directions to outlets or charging stations via Google Maps, Apple Maps, and Waze, and after you have found the station you can share a review or tips with the rest of the app’s EV community.

For those going green, this is the app to download.

5. Car Minder Plus

OS: Android, iOS

Not the most thrilling app, but it could end up saving you huge amounts of money. Car Minder manages all your car’s maintenance needs, logging repairs and tracking fuel economy. Taking care of your car has been proven to prolong the life of the car, keep it running better and increase fuel economy – all saving you, the driver, money.

The app will never let you forget the next oil change or the last time you replaced your windscreen wipers, resulting in you getting the most out of your car. Providing a complete record of your car, which can be emailed to others if needs be, you can back all your records up to your computer.

As mentioned, not a hugely exciting app, but a practical, money saving app all the same.