By
- Claudia Dimuro | cdimuro@pennlive.com
Now you can do more on Google Maps than just find your way to a place
A Google blog postpublished Thursday has announced that Ask Maps — which uses Google’s AI assistant, Gemini — has new agentic capabilities that allows for users to do something like, say, order food
“Ask Maps can now handle complex, multi-step tasks for you using new agentic capabilities,” the blog post explains. “If you want to order takeout before leaving the office, just ask Maps to ‘order spicy pad kee mao with seafood for me to pick up on my way home.’
“It’ll find open restaurants along your route that serve what you’re craving and can even consider things like your saved places or specific dietary needs. Once you select a restaurant, Ask Maps can automatically add the dish you’re looking for directly to your cart so you can easily review and complete your order.”
But it’s not just food-ordering that’s a part of Ask Maps’s new offerings: Users can book hotels, find local events to check out, and even cater traveling plans to flights
Square and Toast have been confirmed as partners in this new initiative. Uber Eats is reportedly next on the list
News of Ask Maps’s new capabilities arrives just a month after Waze — another Google navigation app — announced similar features
Google confirmed that the new Ask Maps features are being rolled out in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, and Mexico, plus over 150 countries and territories in English
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