Google has announced a number of new AI features coming to the company's Maps app that will hopefully make navigating easier and more confident.
Google Maps AI Tricks
First announced in February, Immersive View lets you zoom in on your routes and see different landmarks and features along your planned route using computer vision and AI. It’s like street view and aerial photography combined. Initially available in London, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco and Tokyo, the technology is rolling out to more cities including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dublin, Florence, Las Vegas, Miami, Paris, San Jose, Seattle and Venice. You can use the new feature on Android and iOS versions of the app.
Lens in Maps is also rolling out to more than 50 new cities, including Austin, Las Vegas, Rome, São Paulo and Taipei. The feature, previously called Search with Live View, uses AI to create an augmented reality overlay that lets you see information about things nearby right on your phone.
Maps is getting more detailed, well, maps too. There are updated colors, more realistic buildings, and improved lane detail for highways, so you’re better prepared to cross those six lanes of traffic on your route. The updates are rolling out to 12 countries “in the coming months,” including Canada, France, Germany, and the U.S. The latter is getting new information about HOV lanes, so you can make better choices when there’s more than one person in your car. In Europe, Google plans to expand its AI speed limit tools to 20 new countries, so you can be sure you’re not speeding (unless you want to, of course).