Niantic has made another change to Pokemon GO, but this time they have neglected to let anyone know. Leave it to Reddit to figure it out anyways though, as users in the game’s subreddit have been posting about how they are no longer able to see Pokemon while moving at driving speeds.
Pokemon GO already had a safety feature added to the game after launch that would pop up if players were moving too fast, warning them not to play the game while driving. It was possible to acknowledge the warning and continue playing as normal, since if you were a passenger in the vehicle you would have no safety issues to be concerned about it. This new change prevents Pokemon from spawning as soon as your device begins moving too quickly, which means that even if you are a passenger you are unable to play the game in a moving vehicle.
While this change may have been made for the sake of safety, it also removes a completely safe method of play. Many people played Pokemon GO during their commutes on public transit or in carpools, and now they can no longer do so.
There is still the possibility that this is a bug, and not a deliberate change, since it was not publicly listed anywhere. However, if the change is intentional it would not be the first unpopular decision that Niantic has made, as they have previously shut down tracking sites which many fans enjoyed using to play the game. Niantic has not commented on the issue at this time.