Google has announced new AI features for Google Maps, including a Gemini-powered conversational tool called “Ask Maps” and an updated “Immersive Navigation” experience, aiming to simplify trip planning and real-time driving guidance.
These updates represent a significant expansion of Google’s AI integration into its mapping platform, utilizing data from both the Google Maps and Waze communities to provide real-time information for millions of users. The Ask Maps feature is rolling out now in the U.S. and India on Android and iOS, with desktop availability coming soon.
The Ask Maps feature allows users to ask complex, real-world questions using natural language, such as finding a phone charging spot without a long wait or locating a lit tennis court available at night. The tool also plans trips by providing directions, ETAs, and tips from real people for stops along a route. Ask Maps personalizes answers based on a user’s search and save history, such as suggesting vegan-friendly restaurants if that is a known preference.
Immersive Navigation introduces a 3D view that reflects nearby buildings, overpasses, and terrain, highlighting road details like lanes, crosswalks, and traffic lights. New functionality includes smart zooms and transparent buildings to give drivers a broader view for tricky turns and lane changes. Voice guidance has been updated to sound more natural, providing clearer instructions like “Go past this exit and take the next one for Illinois 43 South.”
The app now explains trade-offs for alternate routes, such as longer trips with less traffic or faster routes with tolls. It alerts users to real-time disruptions like construction or crashes using data from Google Maps and Waze communities. Users can preview destinations using Street View imagery and get parking recommendations before heading out, with the app highlighting building entrances and parking as they approach.
“Our team set out to redesign the driving experience with the objective of taking the guesswork out of trips,” said Miriam Daniel, VP of Google Maps. “Immersive navigation is a complete transformation of the navigation experience. It’s got redesigned visuals, fresh real-world information that’s brought to you just in time, and more intuitive guidance.”
Immersive Navigation begins rolling out in the U.S. today, with expansion to eligible iOS and Android devices, CarPlay, Android Auto, and Google built-in vehicles over the coming months. These announcements build on Google’s late-last-year integration of Gemini into Maps, which allows the AI to answer questions about places and improve navigation instructions by referencing nearby landmarks.
