Photo by Rafael Henrique; SOPA Images; LightRocket; Getty Images
As stated by Techcrunch
Google is adding Gemini to Maps in India along with road-safety warnings and expanded route information. The AI integration, launched in the United States on Wednesday, provides Maps with hands-free voice assistance, contextual prompts during navigation, and information about notable places.
Miriam Daniel, vice president and head of Google Maps, noted that the rollout required significant localization.
When we talk about localization for India, it’s not just about language; we need to adapt to how Indians use the product, how they speak, how they frame questions, how they identify places, geopolitical locations, and street names – in India, everything is a little different.
Gemini in Maps: Availability and Language Support
Gemini will be available to all Android and iOS users in India over the coming weeks. At launch, Gemini will support nine Indian languages.
Google is also adding a set of navigation and travel updates focused on India. Drivers will now receive visual and audio alerts as they pass through segments with a higher likelihood of accidents. The company is working with local authorities for these signals, and the feature is rolling out to Android users in Gurugram, the Cyberabad district of Hyderabad, Chandigarh, and Faridabad.
Other new features include proactive alerts about major outages or delays on a route, even when users do not choose a route. These signals will be available to Android users on highways and major roads in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru.
The feature will also display speed limits during navigation, using data from local road authorities. This feature is rolling out for Android and iOS users in nine cities: Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Hyderabad (including the Cyberabad district), Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, and Noida.
Expanding navigation at interchanges, Maps now receives voice support for routes over highways – the rollout will be gradually available for Android and iOS over the coming weeks.
In real-world conditions, road conditions can continually change – it’s very dynamic, and sometimes changes happen instantly. Maps can’t be absolutely accurate 100% of the time. So we encourage users to stay attentive to the road.
These updates underscore Google’s commitment to making navigation in India safer, more intuitive, and better tailored to local conditions, with an emphasis on improving trip quality and reducing road risks.
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