Google Maps taps Gemini AI to transform into an ‘all-knowing copilot’

Google Maps is bringing Gemini’s AI chatbot to more features, including more “conversational” route planning and the use of landmarks and nearby business for navigation.

Google has slowly been adding AI to many of its products, including Maps, which last year got an updated version of Immersive View that allows users to ask questions about surrounding businesses and activities. Now the company is bringing AI into some of the core functions of Maps: route planning and navigation.

“We’ve often envisioned navigating with Maps as being your all-knowing copilot,” said Google Maps product director Amanda Moore in a briefing with reporters, “giving you exactly the information you need when you need it and taking the stress out of getting from A to B.”

Users can now ask Gemini open-ended questions from within Maps, either while driving or out walking. The system combines Maps’ geographical data with local insights about the surrounding community to provide answers about businesses or possible destinations.

An example would be to ask Gemini for recommendations for certain restaurants along a specified route, and then to request that the route be altered to include directions to one of the recommended places. Users can also report hazards like vehicle crashes or get summaries of recent events, news, or emails during a commute. Gemini can be summoned either by saying “Hey Google” or tapping the Gemini icon in top-right corner of Google Maps.

Gemini also has the ability to access other Google apps, like Calendar, so users can add reminders for events to their schedule while also conversing with the chatbot about navigation. This interoperability can all take place within the Google Maps interface, the company’s product managers said.

“It’s connecting the dots between trusted information from the web, reviews from the Maps community, and all the rich geospatial data that Maps has,” Vishal Dutta, group product manager for Google Maps, said in a briefing with reporters. “And then Gemini pulls it all together with its summarization capabilities into one clear, helpful answer you can act on instantly while you’re on the go.”

Dutta said it would feel like having “a friend who’s a local expert in the passenger seat.”

Google is also using AI to improve its audible directions by using recognizable visual cues, like gas stations, restaurants, or distinctive landmarks, rather than distance-based instructions. This capability relies on Gemini’s ability to process billions of Street View images and cross-reference them with the live index of 250 million places that have been logged in Google Maps.

Another feature, Proactive Traffic Alerts, targets routine commutes and familiar drives where the user may not normally open Maps. Gemini now monitors the route in the background and can automatically alert the user to approaching disruptions like crashes, construction, or road closures. It notifies drivers early enough to reroute and avoid delays, helping them stay on schedule.

Lastly, users can now use Google Lens within Maps (and powered by Gemini) to help identify surrounding landmarks or businesses. Simply point your camera at a location and through natural conversation, Gemini will provide all the details.

Of course, if the AI hallucinates or spits out wrong information, these types of features can quickly turn into a debacle for users. But Google insists that hallucinations won’t be a problem because Gemini’s navigation features are grounded in Google’s real-world datasets.

“We’ve also really worked to ground this in our place information,” said Moore. “So when you ask for places on your route, it’s using the actual place information in the real world. So there should be no hallucinations on places to stop at or things like that.”

Google says that the new features will be free for all signed-in users, gradually rolling out to Android, iOS, and, later, vehicles with Google built-in.