Google Maps was, is, and will continue to be the world’s number one navigation app, and with Google working on more and more improvements that are available free of charge for everybody out there, this makes total sense.
But at the same time Google Maps is also evolving to align with the changing trends in the automotive industry, and the implementation in Android Automotive is just the living proof in this regard.
On Android Automotive-powered cars, such as the Polestar 2 for example, Google Maps is capable of so much more than on a mobile phone, as it can also provide drivers with information on charging station, real-time mileage, and even calculate a route based on vehicle specifics and current battery charge.
So overall, Google Maps is evolving fast, and Google has recently announced a series of new features that provide the app with modern capabilities. And just like in the case of Android Automotive, it’s an update that’s supposed to help Google Maps align with the new trends in the car industry.
This time, Google Maps is getting a new setting to change how it determines the best route for a driver.
How routes are determined right now
At this point, Google Maps is configured to automatically suggest the fastest route to a destination, and as we’ve told you before, this particular setting has long been a controversial default behavior.
And it’s because in some cases, drivers just want to use a different route, and not even manually defining it works, as Google Maps runs a periodical re-routing, once again suggesting the fastest way to reach a destination.
To determine the fastest route, Google Maps looks into data like traffic trends, the maximum speed allowed for each road, the distance, and other factors that would have an impact on the time you’d need to reach a destination.
So theoretically, users define their destination in Google Maps, the system calculates the shortest route, looks into the slowest sectors and then adjusts the route accordingly.
How routes will be calculated starting this year
Google Maps is now changing the default setting, so instead of calculating the fastest route, it’ll now suggest the most fuel efficient one.
The change will be first implemented in the Android version of Google Maps but will then make its way to iPhones at a later time too.
So now when you provide a destination in Google Maps, the app doesn’t look only at the maximum speed and the travel distance, but also at road incline and traffic congestion. Using a complex algorithm, Google Maps will try to estimate the fuel efficiency for your route, so in the end, it’ll provide only the option with the lowest environmental footprint.
“With insights from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab, we’re building a new routing model that optimizes for lower fuel consumption based on factors like road incline and traffic congestion. This is all part of the commitment we made last September to help one billion people who use our products take action to reduce their environmental footprint,” Google explains.
