Stuck in traffic? Google Maps has a smarter AI assistant for you

Los Angeles Times ^ | 11/05/2025b06:00 AM PT | Queenie Wong

[E. Pluribus Unum]

• Google plans to add its AI assistant Gemini into Google Maps so drivers can ask complex questions and complete tasks using voice commands.

• The move intensifies Google’s competition with OpenAI and Meta as tech giants race to embed artificial intelligence into everyday tools and services.

Drivers navigating traffic on their morning commutes will be able to do much more than just find directions and the nearest gas station on Google Maps.

In the coming weeks, Google will add its artificial-intelligence-powered assistant Gemini into Google Maps, making it possible for drivers to get answers to more complex questions while they’re on the road.

Users will be able to chat with the AI assistant by saying “Hey, Google” or tapping on the Gemini icon in Google Maps. Google Maps currently has an AI assistant within the app but the questions it can answer are limited.

In a demonstration of how Gemini works in Google Maps, the assistant answered questions about budget-friendly vegan restaurants along a driver’s route and parking options. It even added a calendar event for soccer practice.

“It really is like having a friend who’s a local expert sitting right next to you in the passenger seat,” said Vishal Dutta, group product manager for Google Maps at a virtual press event.

Google Maps users will be able to use their voice to report a crash. The AI assistant will also summarize information such as sports results, emails and the news as people are commuting to and from the office.

Google said it also built a new feature called Lens with Gemini in which people can use the AI assistant by clicking on the camera icon when they stumble across an unfamiliar place on a map. They can ask the assistant why a restaurant is so popular or...

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TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: bookshelffreepload; bookshelfspammer; deadbeatbookshelf; gemini; googlemaps; iabtfd; spammingfr

[GingisK]

The city of Atlanta and its surrounding towns were laid out by cows in the shape of a bent spider web. If one road gets clogged, they all get clogged. AI won’t navigate around that.

[montag813]

"Get me home fast, but avoid the ghetto"

"I'm sorry I can not respond to your request due to harmful and/or stereotypical language"

[John Milner]

G00gle is evil. Do not use.

[Paal Gulli]

G**gle is the largest and most pervasive censor and manipulator of information that has ever existed ...

... at least on this planet.

It exists entirely to modify what you think by controlling what you see and read. If you use any G**gle product (without first making some technically astute modifications), you're as much as begging for a proctological exam every time you fire up a PC or handheld digital device.

[Paladin2]

Best advice on Traffic?

Move to a less populated place....