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Gemini AI To Transform Google Maps Into a More Conversational Experience (apnews.com) 91

Posted by BeauHD from the no-fumbling-required dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: Google Maps is heading in a new direction with artificial intelligence sitting in the passenger's seat. Fueled by Google's Gemini AI technology, the world's most popular navigation app will become a more conversational companion as part of a redesign announced Wednesday. The hands-free experience is meant to turn Google Maps into something more like an insightful passenger able to direct a driver to a destination while also providing nearby recommendations on places to eat, shop or sightsee, when asked for the advice. "No fumbling required -- now you can just ask," Google promised in a blog post about the app makeover.

The AI features are also supposed to enable Google Maps to be more precise by calling out landmarks to denote the place to make a turn instead of relying on distance notifications. AI chatbots, like Gemini and OpenAI's ChatGPT, have sometimes lapsed into periods of making things up -- known as "hallucinations" in tech speak -- but Google is promising that built-in safeguards will prevent Maps from accidentally sending drivers down the wrong road. All the information that Gemini is drawing upon will be culled from the roughly 250 million places stored in Google Maps' database of reviews accumulated during the past 20 years. Google Maps' new AI capabilities will be rolling out to both Apple's iPhone and Android mobile devices.

Gemini AI To Transform Google Maps Into a More Conversational Experience More | Reply

Gemini AI To Transform Google Maps Into a More Conversational Experience

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  • NO! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Quakeulf ( 2650167 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2025 @07:15PM (#65776246)

    Maps is broken enough as it is. I can no longer use it as a GPS-helper or anything for that matter as it crashes all the time and less than 50% of the screen on my phone is the actual map. This is just adding insult to injury.

    • You might have a bigger issue than just Google Maps. I've used it for years on multiple devices, and never experienced these frequent crashes.

      • It happens on both my phones and my wife's phones as well. Check its resource needs in the browser and do a little performance profiling and you will see how bloated and bad it is. Are you not a developer?

        • Yes indeed, I'm a developer, and I have cheap Android phones (Moto G, less than $200 unlocked). Google Navigation may take a substantial amount of resources, but I can't remember it ever crashing.

        • Really? The only problem I've ever had with it on my iPhone was that on at least two occasions it took me to the wrong address. One of those times it wasn't Maps fault, there were identical addresses in two neighboring towns.

      • I haven't had crashes but it often claims it can't find a route to where I want to go, mostly recently a location I could see from where I was standing. It also suggests ridiculous routes where I have to resubmit a query several times with slight mods to get it to provide the optimal route.

        And "AI" is just going to make this much, much worse.

        • Apparently, experiences vary. I don't have the problems you have described, not ever. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I live in a large metro (Houston) where, perhaps, they spend more time making sure all the details are in the system.

    • I don't think I have ever had any map app crash on my phone.

      I'd get a new phone if I were you.

  • Why? (Score:4, Funny)

    by ebunga ( 95613 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2025 @07:32PM (#65776268)

    I keep asking their stupid AI to delete itself and it doesn't do what I asked it to do. Absolute worthless garbage.

  • The last thing I want (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Geoffrey.landis ( 926948 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2025 @07:44PM (#65776286) Homepage

    The last thing I want out of a map is a "conversational experience,"

    The conversation I want is:
    ME: "Show me the map."
    MAP: "Here."

    • Re:The last thing I want (Score:5, Interesting)

      by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2025 @07:51PM (#65776294)

      Yeah, especially since I'm sure what'll change is verbal advertisements will start being injected.

      "In 500m, near the Safeway, turn right. Safeway is currently offering a deal on diet soda - if you buy four or more Hungry Man TV Dinners, you can get a twelve pack of delicious Barqs Zero Sugar Root Beer for just $4.99! This offer is only good through Monday November 10... so hurry into your local Safeway!"

      "Hungry? There's a Taco Bell coming up in 1.5 miles. Mention Gemini AI to get 15% off two orders of tasty Nachos Bel Grande - only for a limited time!"

      • Thank you very much.. but I sense this crap is being crafted into your new best friend. As a matter of fact, I suspect it already is for tons, millions, probably hundreds of millions pf people. Its sci fi dystopia now. Wait til president vance gets his hands on peter theil's junk, er, software, er, service. That's gonna be worse than even chirpy cheerful advertising. The Hand Maiden's Tale territory. God bless Margaret Atwood for serving it up so so cold. Now we know what that looks like. <shudder>

      • We are rapidly making "to unlock drink verification can" [imgur.com] a reality.

    • Map: where are places to legally dispersed car camp between the Ozark and Gila Nat'l Forests? Are there any?

    • I was going to say "do not want" but your version works too.

      I don't want to fucking talk to my phone, EVER, unless it is on a voice call to another human.

      Ever, ever, EVER!!!

      I wish these motherfuckers would get that into their fucking heads.

    • One of the things i want a Satnav to do (apart from get me to the destination) is to temporarily enlarge the image of the junction where you are about to make turn decision. Driving in Portugal recently it proved that sometimes the screen is too small for my eyes to see which road to take (not many lanes are painted outside the cities) and sometimes a "straight on" is a choice to 2 roads straight ahead and when driving on the "wrong" side of the road in the dark the choice of road becomes a lottery. One o

    • Indeed but what are you going to do with it now? Now you have a map. Are you driving? What's your next step? Are you going to stare at the map? Play with the touch screen? Try and figure out where you were?

      You've not thought this through, why was your end goal to have a map? Wasn't your end goal to get to a destination? For most people maps are completely pointless, they get used in various ways to serve a goal.

      Here's some things you may want to do with your map:
      * Ask it for directions to somewhere.
      * Ask it

    • The last thing I want out of a map is a "conversational experience,"

      The conversation I want is:
      ME: "Show me the map."
      MAP: "Here."

      I know, right? Most every device out there that has GPS, also has required navigation added onto it. I just want to know where I am, I can already figure out how to get to where I want to go as long as I know where I am.

  • YES! Finally! (Score:3)

    by Tony Isaac ( 1301187 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2025 @07:49PM (#65776292) Homepage

    I always hated it that when I said something like, "Hey Google! Navigate to the nearest gas station along my route" it would helpfully *show* me a map of all the gas station options, expecting me to tap on the one I want and then a few more taps to add it to my route. That's the opposite of hands-free operation while driving. I would want it to ask me clarifying questions, if it had some, or offer a few choices verbally and let me speak to choose the one I want.

    It seems like this new update should be able to do that.

    • The search along route feature needs serious investment. It's got problems.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      I'd like to see AI enhance the presentation of routing options, so a brief overview of the pros and cons rather than just a map. It could also make better use of public transport, survey routes for issues like steep slopes, and make suggestions like "if you hurry you can catch an earlier train".

      They could do with some small UI improvements too, like showing how much leeway you have to make connections.

    • it would helpfully *show* me a map of all the gas station options, expecting me to tap on the one

      Wait what? For about half a decade at least (I didn't use it before then) it wouldn't expect me to tap on anything. It would say "There's a Shell gas station 3.5km away, navigate to that one?" And then flash the little bar on the screen indicating it was waiting for an auditory response.

      Are you still rocking an iPhone 3G or something?

      I agree it could be improved though. It tells you how far away something is without telling you the detour. I may want to go to the one in 15km if it is on the side of the high

      • Is it unreasonable to thinnk Toyota's infotainment system is decades behind (they even took away the CD player)?

      • Nope, no iPhone for me, I have the latest generation Moto G. OS and app are the latest versions available. Maybe the iPhone app has an audio-only mode that Android doesn't.

        Exactly once, when I asked it to route me to a gas station, it simply adjusted my route and took me there...though it picked a gas station that was members only (Costco) and I wasn't able to get gas there as a result.

        When I'm driving, I don't want to have to visually decide from a list of pins on the screen, I want to have a conversation

        • That's not a "conversation". Google's marketing department calls this conversational. It isn't, marketing is the only legal form of lying.

          You don't want a conversation; you want a response to voice prompts. "Route me to the nearest gas station. No, not that one. Yes, set route." That's not a conversation, that's command.

          Don't let their sales team change your speech.

          • I fail to see the distinction you are trying to draw.

            A conversation is when you say something, and based on what you said, someone else responds to what you said, and this process repeats.

            If AI can do that, how is that not a conversation?

    • So, it already has a working voice interface? Which means this is all just a BS marketing way to say they're slightly improving the voice interface.

      • Yes, but I don't agree with your conclusion.

        You can, using your voice, ask it to navigate to a specific location. But if there are any questions or ambiguities about where you are instructing it to navigate to, it makes you use the screen to refine your choices.

        This is where AI comes in. The current voice integration is very limited and prescriptive. You can only use very specific voice prompts. The minute you go off the beaten path, it falls back to screen output and touch input. That's what AI should make

  • The most popular question will be... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MpVpRb ( 1423381 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2025 @07:54PM (#65776304)

    How can I turn it off?

    • Remember when cars had CD players?

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by cusco ( 717999 )

        My truckette still has a cassette player, you insensitive clod!

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by cusco ( 717999 )

      It's just a bit hard for me to believe that there is any amount of people actually asking for this.

      • Who asked for intrusive beeps on cars? Are Karens the majority now?

        Have cars devolved in terms of no CD player (so you pay for Sirius XM)? Rather than listening to customers, do car companies simply shove things down consumers' throat? So why should AI be any different? Will you end up conforming because capitalism took away choice?

        • I think you can install an aftermarket CD player if you must have one. I'd say just rip your CDs to your favorite audio format, good your phone via BT and play the files on off your phone. I use VLC and playlist. Works great. Doesn't require internet and I get more then 12 songs without having to change disc. Of course, I'm sure you could even install a multi-disc CD player and load it with disc. I did this 25 years ago.

          I don't miss fiddling with CDs at all.

          • New cars no longer have an aux input. There are no working Bluetooth CD players in existence.

            If you want to play an actual physical CD, you are SOL on a new car.

            • I would not buy a car without an aux input.

              I would not buy a car without a CarPlay.

              I would not buy a car without a spare tire.

              I would not buy a car from GM.

              • What new car could you buy today that has all those things ? Genuinely curious.

                • Well, depends on how new "new" is, but my wife's 2024 Honda CRV has them all, I believe. I'd have to double check the aux port to be sure.

                  • Re: (Score:2)

                    by madbrain ( 11432 )

                    I think you'll find that it does not. Honda dropped it years ago.

                    https://www.crvownersclub.com/threads/why-is-there-no-3-5mm-input.217599/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

                    • Well, there you go.

                      Had I been the one buying, I would have bought something else.

                      My vehicle is a 2007 model. It has an aux port and a spare. I could put CarPlay in it without much effort.

                      But now you have me curious. Not a single new car on the market with an aux port??? I didn't realize cars had become THAT shitty, but I guess I should not be surprised.

                    • Re: (Score:2)

                      by madbrain ( 11432 )

                      Yes, most cars from that vintage had aux ports. And CD players as well.

                      I'm not sure if there isn't a single new car left with an AUX port. Perhaps there are. I'm just not aware of one. That's why I asked you what you would buy today. My husband has 15,000 CDs.

                      His current car has an aux input, Android Auto, and Carplay. It's a 2017, though, and a GM - a Chevy Bolt.
                      The first thing I did to this car when I bought it for my husband was to install a CD player.

                      https://www.gm-volt.com/threads/cd-player-for-bolt-ev

                    • I was going to buy the Buick Tour X. I was really hot for that car. Kept up with all the runouts and this that and the other....and then it was finally released. I found one on a lot and drove some 200 miles to buy it. I was sure that I would be coming home with a new car and $43,000 less in my account.

                      We get there, take it for a drive. I love it. Wife likes it. Great! We're about to wrap it up and go inside to do papers. I ask about the spare. He says it does not have one. I can't believe it! So I look un

                    • Re: (Score:2)

                      by madbrain ( 11432 )

                      You considered a Buick ? But it's a GM. Looks like that Tour X was discontinued in 2020. It had an aux port. No more.

                      Most cars don't have spares because of the extra weight, which shows up in EPA mileage ratings. It also increases cost. Eating up the cargo space with a sub is silly, though.

                      How often have you needed the spare, out of curiosity ? I have had flat tires with every single car, sigh.

                      I used to have a 6 CD changer in my 2007 Prius. It was nice. Some discs got scratched in the changer, though. I may

                    • Sure. That was before my "GM Experience".

                      My wife bought a Buick in....2021 or so. It's what she had before her Honda. It was the experience with that car that burned me on GM.

                      I have used the spare tire on every vehicle I've ever had. But besides that, it's just a matter of my posture on being prepared. It's a mentality issue.

                      My disc changer takes dual layer DVDs. I think it's something like 8GB per disc. Times six discs. When you're talking about MP3s, it's a shitload of songs (;

                      I have to use sub directorie

                    • Last rolling flat (not cold in the driveway) was on the way to a job interview. Pulled over, jacked the car up, put on the SPARE FUCKING TIRE, arrived late and asked for a minute to wash hands properly.

                      Got the job.

                      Didn't have 3 hours to waste on AAA.

                      That was with my dearly-missed candy white 2007 GTI.

                    • I had a flat a couple years ago but was insanely lucky it was literally around the corner from both work and a tire shop. I was able to coast the half mile, no damage done to the wheel itself, take the tire off (lucky I had an aftermarket jack), rolled the damn thing a quarter mile to the tire shop, etc. The manager was cool and gave me a lift back to work.

                      It was definitely frustrating, even though that was the best possible way that could of worked out.

                      I now have a spare tire. I can't say I've noticed any

                  • Hmm, I wonder about the spare tire. My 2019 Honda did not come with a spare tire and my ex wife's 2019 chevy didn't come with one either. This may be a California thing. Unless you've actually SEEN that spare tire, I'd go take a look real quick, just to be sure.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            I recently set up Navidrome for this. It scans your music (and audiobook in my case) collection and serves it all up via an HTTP interface. There are apps for Android and iOS.

            For remote access the best option is Cloudflare Zero Trust. I know, the Evil Empire, but they provide a useful and free service where they act as an HTTPS proxy for your home server, via a VPN connection. They support various authentication methods too, so your server isn't exposed to the internet, their proxy is.

            Anyway, with that I ha

      • That a contrick to say "people asked for this ??????",

    • How can I turn it off?

      No it won't be. It may be popular among Slashdotters to ask that question, but the overwhelming majority of users on the world aren't grumpy old farts like us and will just use the feature right as presented.

      Fun fact: Most people I see at work have the Windows 11 taskbar icons centred on the screen. Remember the outrage here on Slashdot? It was like the entire world would end because we didn't left justify by default. Well the option exists to move it, and while I'll bet my kidney 100% of Slashdot users exe

  • Maybe one day the makers of such things will understand AI needs to be completely optional and not rammed into everything. I do not wish helpful hints saying: "It's looks like you are driving down State Route 31, there is an awesome Mexican place on the left, why not stop for a Taco?" So, Apple maps isn't ideal, but it's (so far) uninfected with advertising.

  • Google is Awful Already (Score:4, Interesting)

    by RossCWilliams ( 5513152 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2025 @08:33PM (#65776390)

    Google is not reliable outside urban areas already. It has repeatedly taken "shortcuts" that were dirt roads and/or didn't actually connect. Even in urban areas there are problems. My favorite recently was our cabin at the end of road in Minnesota being identified in a popup as a spot over a thousand miles away in Nova Scotia that had the same name as the road its on.

    For a long time people trying to find our house were directed into a dead end that leads to a narrow, overgrown alley that runs behind our lot. We assume its because our house is set back from the street in front. Although nowhere close to the alley.

    AI will likely make things worse, but what we are really seeing is the downside to monopolies. There used to be a saying when Ma Bell controlled telephoines, "We don't care, we're the phone company." That is slowly applying to the entire tech industry.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      It very much depends where you live and the quality of the data available for that area. Google does generate some of its own data, from satellite imagery and Street View images, but it has to rely on third parties for some stuff too. In places where that data is good, so is Google Maps, and every other mapping app.

      Japan is a good example of that. It varies by prefecture, but generally speaking it's excellent. There are some weaknesses, which are down to third parties not providing timely updates, such as c

      • Google does generate some of its own data, from satellite imagery and Street View images, but it has to rely on third parties for some stuff too

        Google used to tell me to drive up someone's driveway and take a bridge that didn't exist in Kelseyville CA. What's frustrating about this is that one of their street view cars had passed by that driveway, so they had enough information to know that it wasn't a valid route, but they didn't bother to process it in that way and kept recommending a route that didn't exist and which would have saved maybe one minute if it had.

        Google spent a lot of money gathering the data it needs to dramatically improve their

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          There are some clear ways in which Street View gave Google Maps an advantage for many years. One big one was recognizing front doors and house numbers, giving them better accuracy than rivals that only knew where an address was to within whatever radius the postal code was. It was also a lot better at taking you to the front entrance of shops and offices, instead of the nearest side door.

          For some reason the US seems to have really bad map data. Most countries made it a priority to get accurate GIS and infra

          • For some reason the US seems to have really bad map data.

            Recent US Census map data [census.gov] is fairly decent. OSM is generally quite good here now also. But I do think there are certain classes of road which are generally only updated occasionally at the federal level if municipalities do not self-report changes.

    • Google is not reliable outside urban areas already. It has repeatedly taken "shortcuts" that were dirt roads and/or didn't actually connect.

      Please specify which urban area you are talking about. I've used Google maps to travel through country roads in India, I used Google to navigate through the Australian desert including crossing private ranches in the process because the "highway" (dirt road that looks like someone put gravel on at some point) was flooded. Literally no problem. I did once end up stuck, but it wasn't Google's fault that the bridge was washed away only minutes prior.

      I'm generally curious which areas you know that is underserve

      • I'm generally curious which areas you know that is underserved by Google because I simply cannot agree with your comment based on my experience in the slightest.

        What do you have for comparison? I know the problem exists because I have alternative navigation that tells me that.

        It was literally fixed within 2 days.

        Getting it to stop sending everyone to the alley took a little less than two years.

  • Best thing ever for Google users everywhere (Score:3)

    by hyades1 ( 1149581 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2025 @08:46PM (#65776446)

    From TFA: "The hands-free experience is meant to turn Google Maps into something more like an insightful passenger able to direct a driver to a destination while also providing nearby recommendations on places to eat, shop or sightsee..."

    English translation: "We encourage businesses on all major routes to contact us right now for priority placement on our list of 'recommendations'. Bring lots of cash. Maybe one of your children, also."

  • It is a freaking MAP, not a conversation.

    • There genius is that they added AI. They added AI. What else do you need? It has AI. AI! Artificial Intelligence. It will be just like Star Trek. Where you talk to the computer, and the Romulans infiltrate the ship by tricking it into ignoring them, and then the warp core explodes and you die.

  • I can't wait (Score:4, Funny)

    by RobotDog23 ( 10503202 ) on Wednesday November 05, 2025 @11:08PM (#65776648)

    Me: Hey, Gemini. I need directions to the grocery store.
    GG: Certainly. Here's a route to the pet store.
    Me: I said GROCERY store, not pet store.
    GG: My mistake. Let me fix that. Here are the correct directions to the pet store.
    Me: I don't want to go to the dang pet store. I want to go to the grocery store.
    GG: I understand your frustration. Please be patient. I'm still learning.
    Me: Revert to the previous version of Google maps.
    GG: I'm sorry, I can't do that Dave.
    Me: My name's not Dave!

  • I can't wait until it not only misunderstands what I said, but also hallucinates the results based on wrong input.

    Whe it does understand, it gives preferences to nonsensical results, like a Home depot 40 miles away rather than 3. I guess this must be based on which store paid the most for ads. But it makes no sense at all to expect anyone would ever go for that top choice.
    Maps really has been enshittified to death.

    • Geez. I just type or paste in a destination and drive to it. Is talking to it really that much more complicated? Why bother?
  • They are "language models".. it is in the name. Models that simply predict likely text to follow example text - based on statistics, not "thought". You can do a lot of tricks, like have your example text say that the next text will describe a thought process... but it does not; this is simply a trick of language. I encourage everyone to refuse to repeat the rather misleading marketing term "AI", and just use one of the true terms "LLM", "GPT", or the actual brand name (Copilot, Gemini, ...) when discussi

    • What if NLP is AI complete because getting the context-sensitivity of natural laguage syntax right means you can apply it to other context-sensitive (at long range) data?

      • Thanks! My point of view, LLMs are a narrow part of natural language processing, and I don't understand them to get context sensitivity right, in the sense of extracting or expressing any meaning. Even though they produce strings that may conform to a context sensitive grammar. (Also, I don't understand the term "AI complete" to be rigorous...) But I DO understand LLM operation to be a type of computation, somewhat useful in a small subset of the ways that an "AI" would be useful. LLMs have nothing to b

        • Did you just say they don't get context-sensitivity right except in natural language which was the very place where we never could get context sensitivity right using neural networks or rules-based systems alone?

  • This move is all about advertising and nothing about users' needs. Fuck off, Google.

  • No thanks. This will get headlines again when AI directs your mom to the nearest strip club instead of to the grocery store.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by habig ( 12787 )
      That'll teach her not to ask the AI where she can get some New York Strips for dinner.
  • With catastrophically horrible intent detection - This like open AI will slide into the vacuum of silence harm and failure - if one human is harmed - they have failed - unless either firms manage to get their hands on a specific type of brainpower. The solution is obfuscated. Neither will succeed - simply because of one concept... logic. When your recursion is polluted by anti-logic, your recursion will inevitably lead to collapse, and you will neve obtain full logic.
  • Now it can sprinkle in ads with every sentence. "I know you're looking for this, but why not stop at the McBurger next door?"

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