TL;DR Google is giving Maps a healthy does of Gemini AI upgrades.
In addition to its natural conversation skills, Gemini will improve Maps with more contextual navigation and Lens integration.
Gemini can even proactively warn you about traffic problems before you’ve even told it your route.
Over the past couple years, Google’s been infusing Gemini AI into every corner of its devices and services — for better or for worse. But even as we shake our heads at AI Mode misses in Search, we’ve been hugely excited about all the Google Maps upgrades Gemini could offer. Today we’re finally learning exactly how that’s going to work, as Google shares all the ways Gemini is about to make Maps even better.
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Voice control of Maps through Assistant has already been a big deal, keeping us safely hands-free (and focused on the road) while giving us the ability to plan and revise routes on the fly. But with Gemini, Google promises to take that experience to the next level.
Just what does that mean? Well, if you don’t know exactly where you want to go, you can just describe the sort of place you’re looking for and let Gemini do all the legwork. And that power extends to when you want to add a stop along your existing route as well — you can even follow up with questions, like if you’re curious about the parking situation.
Maps is also using Gemini to get smarter about how it phrases navigation instructions. Expect to get a lot less “turn in 500 feet” and more useful contextual information, like turns based on landmarks you can actually see from where you are.
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