Google is adding Gemini to Maps in India, along with road safety alerts and additional route information.
AI integration, launched Wednesday in the U.S., provides hands-free AI assistance in Maps, as well as contextual suggestions during navigation and information about points of interest.
Miriam Daniel, vice president and head of Google Maps, stated that the implementation would require significant localization.
“When we talk about localization for India, it is not just about the language,” she said during a virtual briefing. “It also adapts to how Indians use the product, how Indians will talk, how they will ask questions, how they will identify places, geopolitical places, street names, you know, in India everything is a little bit different.”
Google has announced that the Gemini feature in Maps will be available to all Android and iOS users in India in the coming weeks. At launch, Gemini will support nine Indian languages.
Google is also adding a set of navigation and commuting updates specific to India. Drivers will get it now visual and audio alerts when they travel through accident-prone sections. Google says it is working with local authorities on these alerts and the feature will be rolled out to Android users in Gurugram, Cyberabad region in the states of Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Faridabad.
Google has come under scrutiny in India over the reliability of certain navigation routes on: a car drove off an unfinished bridge in Uttar Pradesh, killing three men late last year.
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“Actual conditions can vary and are very dynamic, and sometimes change in an instant. Maps are not accurate 100% of the time,” said Anal Ghosh, senior program manager for Google Maps, when asked about warnings about unfinished roads or unfinished bridges. “That's why we encourage users to keep their eyes on the road.”
Google said it has partnered with the country's highway regulator, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), to receive near real-time data on road closures, diversions and repair works. The company says the partnership will also enable roadside displays of roadside facilities such as public toilets, restaurants and petrol stations along national highways.
Other new features include proactive notifications of major disruptions or delays on routes, even when users are not using navigation. These alerts are provided to Android users for highways and major roads in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.
The app will also display speed limits while navigating, using data from local road authorities. This feature is available for Android and iOS users in nine cities: Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurugram, Hyderabad (including Cyberabad region), Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Noida.
Building on the overpass navigation feature introduced last year, Maps is now available voice support for viaducts. This feature will be rolled out to Android and iOS users in the coming weeks.
