Google adds Gemini chatbot to Maps
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Google is adding its Gemini chatbot to Maps, letting users get chatty with their navigation app across Android, iOS and their cars.
Why it matters: Nearly three years since ChatGPT's explosive launch, the tech giants are now banking on the idea that everyone wants a chatbot everywhere.
The big picture: Google announced new AI features coming to Maps on Android, iOS, Android Auto and eventually Apple's CarPlay.
- Adding a conversational navigation system, Google says, allows for hands-free interactions like pinpointing unmarked turns, reporting crashes or finding out what parking is like at different places.
- A year ago Google started adding AI to Google maps to help summarize reviews and answer questions about places, but the chatbot hasn't been embedded into the navigation system yet.
Between the lines: Gemini draws on real-time data from over 250 million mapped places.
- The AI additions are meant to solve the problem of confusing directions like, "In 500 yards turn left," when it's hard as a driver to know what 500 yards really is.
- Instead Gemini will use the regularly updated data from Google Street View to tell you a more distinct landmark where you should turn.
Reality check: Google has faced scrutiny over traffic havoc and even death for steering drivers onto unsafe paths.
- But Google says the new AI features don't use Gemini to generate a route or decide where you should turn.
- It will announce landmarks that you'd be able to see in street view, but it's designed for hands-free navigation while driving.
The intrigue: Some of the new features lead people back into their phones instead of human interaction.
- In a demo with reporters Tuesday, Google explained that if you're walking by a restaurant with a crowd lined up outside, you can ask Gemini in Maps what the place is, why it's so popular or "What's the vibe like here?"
- That's as opposed to asking the people themselves.
