- Google is rolling out some big Gemini-powered updates to its Maps app.
- Google Maps is getting a conversational navigation feature that lets drivers ask complex questions.
- You can find specific kinds of locations along your route and ask follow ups.
Gone are the days when AI chatbots were only good for composing sonnets about pooping your pants in the style of William Shakespeare. These systems are getting better at doing real, helpful things too.
On Wednesday, Google rolled out a bunch of updates to its Maps app that promise to use its Gemini chatbot to make navigating places just a little easier. The big one: You can now converse with Gemini right in the Google Maps app to ask for nearby restaurants, available EV chargers along your route or what have you.
“We’re bringing Gemini into navigation, enabling the first intelligent, hands-free, conversational driving experience right in Google Maps,” Amanda Moore, a product director for Google Maps, said on a call with reporters. “With this launch, you can now ask for anything when you’re using your phone to navigate with Maps as if you were speaking to a friend next to you.”
What’s new, as opposed to the Siri-like Google Assistant you can use natively in some cars or on Android phones, is the ability to have complex, multi-step conversations, the company said. Mercedes announced its own Gemini-backed conversational navigation feature earlier this year.
According to the example Google gave, you can ask for something like a “budget-friendly restaurant with vegan options along my route,” and then ask a follow up about what parking there is like. Gemini parses through the information Google Maps has on hundreds of millions of businesses—including user feedback on reviews, outdoor dining, parking, pricing, etc—and then summarizes that into a succinct answer or list of options. Then it listens for any further questions you might have.
This all sounds genuinely useful. Because trying to find a gas station or a particular kind of food option while driving can indeed be a pain in the ass, even if you have someone riding shotgun to do the searching. That’s doubly true if you need a good lunch stop near a charging station. Plus, cars are in dire need of great voice assistants, but the ones that have come installed natively have generally been subpar, with few exceptions.
Car companies are talking a big game about incorporating AI in to their vehicles—tech that can do vague things like “learn your preferences” or hold a conversation. But this AI glow-up to an app that’s already ubiquitous may be precisely the kind of tech cars are missing.
Personally, I’m eager to try it out to find charging stations, a function Google specifically notes in its press release. The ability to ask for a charging station with available stalls rated for over 200 kilowatts and near a McDonalds with a working McFlurry machine would be amazing. We’ll have to see how Gemini handles that.
Google says Gemini is coming to the Maps apps on iOS and Android in the coming weeks, and that functionality in Android Auto is “on the way as well.” In May, Google announced that Gemini would be available in vehicles with Google built-in later in 2025.
Apple CarPlay, Moore said, “is something we’re still looking into.” So if you’re an iPhone user, you may have to just use the Maps app to access Gemini-powered conversations.
“Unfortunately, CarPlay has a lot of limitations that don’t allow us to do exactly what we’re able to do on the mobile app, so the team is still working through what’s possible on CarPlay,” she said.
Photo by: Google
Google announced some other upgrades to Maps on Wednesday too. It’s integrating more “landmark-based navigation” into Maps, thanks to Gemini. So instead of just saying “turn right in 500 feet,” you’ll hear more directions tied to easily recognizable buildings and restaurants.
And Maps is expanding beyond navigation too. Say you commute without using Maps, since you know the route like the back of your hand. Google is rolling out “proactive traffic alerts” that call out heavy traffic or crashes down the road—even if you’re not actively navigating. That’s rolling out now on Android.
Contact the author: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com
