Google Maps update helps drivers

Recently we’ve seen a flurry of updates to both Google Maps and Google Assistant. The Maps updates have been adding more and more features that don’t actually have anything to do with Maps. A new messaging feature and the ability to add hashtags to businesses have turned Maps into a formidable business directory. For Assistant, the updates have been spread across a variety of areas, as you’d expect from a product that is supposed to be generally intelligent rather than specialize in one particular area.

There is a core part of both apps, however, that that make them perfect teammates. Navigation is now a key part of Google Maps and voice control is such an important of Google Assistant that it is taken for granted. With Assistant being able to easily respond to voice queries, it offers a great way for you to get the information you need, or open up a particular app while you are driving. This raises a few issues, however, but Google is trying to address them in a new update for Google Maps.

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Google Assistant on an Android smartphone has its own visual signature. When you call out “Hey, Google…” it opens up a dialog box where you can talk to Assistant and it can display the results to your queries. Even on its own this could be distracting to somebody who is driving a car but if you add the fact that this could also interrupt the navigation instructions that Google Maps is displaying, the problem grows. Even a handsfree experience can still cause dangerous problems for a driver.

Google Maps and Google Assistant are teaming with a navigation specific update

To address the fact that Maps and Assistant could work so well together yet could also cause dangerous distractions for drivers, Google has released a new update for Google Maps. The feature was first mentioned at Google’s I/O conference back in May, when Google said it would have a “lower visual profile” that wouldn’t distract drivers. The update is now live, and users have been taking to social media to describe an experience that fits with Google’s early description.

All Assistant commands now run in the background and the user always stays in Google Maps. You can now ask Google Assistant to send a text message, play music, and even call people without having to leave Google Maps or take your eyes off the road. According to one user on Reddit, calls happen seamlessly without the Phone app opening up on the screen. To initiate these commands all you have to do is say the Google command words or hit the multi-colored microphone found in the top-right of the screen when navigation is running.

This update makes Google Maps navigation a much richer and safer app. Download the latest update to Google Maps to give it a try.