Google has launched Ask Maps, a feature that integrates conversational artificial intelligence into navigation. It allows you to compare car or metro routes, locate coffee shops along the way, or search for vegetarian bars showing sports matches. It also plans accessible activities for seniors and adapts to the user's history, filtering suggestions like vegetarian restaurants if you've searched for them before. From the response, you can book, save to lists, or start navigation without leaving the chat.
Technical integration and deployment on Android and iOS 🛠️
Ask Maps is deployed as a conversational layer within the app, supported by language models that interpret complex queries in natural language. The feature integrates directly with booking systems, saved lists, and turn-by-turn navigation, eliminating the need to switch apps. Currently available in English for Android and iOS, Google has confirmed that Hindi support will arrive soon. Personalization is based on the user's search history, adjusting suggestions without manual intervention.
Ask Maps: the co-pilot that knows you hate broccoli 🥦
Finally, an artificial intelligence that remembers you ordered sushi three times in a row and doesn't suggest a burger joint. Ask Maps already knows you're vegetarian, that you prefer to avoid hills, and that your patience for finding parking has an expiration date. Now it just needs to learn to shut up when you run a yellow light. But hey, at least you won't have to pretend you're considering the metro option when you know you're going by car.