So long, Assistant—Gemini is taking over Google Maps

Gemini is rolling out to Maps on Android and iOS, with Android Auto coming soon.

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[42Kodiak42]

Google also says in no uncertain terms that Gemini is not responsible for choosing your route.

Thank fuck. It seems like Gemini is only being incorporated into the parts of Google Maps I don't use: Assistant and Lens.

The robot will, however, get involved with the spoken directions. Currently, Google Maps and other navigation systems use vague instructions like “turn in 500 feet.” However, these announcements often arrive far too late to be useful, and can people accurately gauge 500 feet while driving? The Gemini-based solution is to give instructions with landmarks.

This would be annoying, but honestly I've already turned off audio-readouts anyway (personal preference and being annoyed at it getting in the way of music every 10 seconds. I also have a dashboard phone-mount that's a lot closer to the road in my vision than the center console.)

Funny enough, I'm better at gauging distances in meters than I am in feet. It's an awkward unit of length that's a little too small for me to reasonably break down distances into, and I don't have a good frame of reference for 10-feet or 100-feet.