Google Maps expands “Ask Maps” with AI-driven food ordering, Gmail-based planning and live transit delays

Google is upgrading its Google Maps “Ask Maps” feature, pushing it further from simple question-and-answer into a tool that can carry out multi-step errands. In a post on the Google Blog, the company said the changes include AI-assisted food ordering, hotel and local event discovery with live pricing and availability checks, and real-time transit delay updates inside the app.

A centerpiece of the rollout is “agentic” food ordering, which Google says can interpret a specific request and then take the steps needed to fulfill it. In the example provided, a user can ask Maps to order a particular dish with dietary or preference constraints for pickup on a route home. Google says Ask Maps can find open restaurants that match the request, consider saved places and dietary needs, and then add the selected item to an in-app cart so the user can review and complete the order.

Google said food ordering is rolling out now in the United States through partners including Square and Toast, with Uber Eats expected to follow. The company also said it plans to evolve the experience as it co-develops the Universal Commerce Protocol for Food with partners, an initiative intended to help standardize aspects of ordering across commerce providers.

Beyond restaurants, Ask Maps is adding tools for trip planning that connect to a user’s existing communications. With “Personal Intelligence,” Google says users can, if they choose, securely connect Ask Maps to Gmail (connection is off by default). Google said the feature can factor in flight or dinner reservations found in Gmail to generate suggestions that match those plans, such as recommending how to spend time near a hotel before a flight and tips on when to leave for the airport.

Google described Personal Intelligence as designed with privacy controls in mind and said the Gmail connection requires user action. It also said that “Ask Maps remembers past conversations” when history settings are enabled, allowing users to ask for earlier suggestions without starting over. The company framed these capabilities as personalization that can be turned on and off rather than automatic by default.

The update also strengthens Ask Maps’ real-time information. Google said it is adding a transit widget inside Ask Maps that provides up-to-the-minute delays for buses, trains, subways, and ferries. In its example, a user can ask about ferry options to Taronga Zoo with views of the Opera House, and Google says the interface shows options at a glance. If service is running late, the waiting time is updated in real time, minute by minute, according to the post.

The company tied these live updates to the scale of community and contributor information, saying insights from more than 500 million contributors help keep Maps data current. It also said it is making it easier to share updates conversationally, including suggesting edits through Ask Maps and the Contribute tab, and that suggested changes are reviewed by built-in protection systems before posting.

Google positioned the improvements as its biggest transformation to Ask Maps in more than a decade, combining Gemini model capabilities with Maps’ location data. The company said Ask Maps has new “conversational contributions,” a term it used to describe sharing tips and local knowledge within the feature, such as noting parking availability behind a venue. It also said users can upload photos of storefront signage, with Maps detecting hours from an image and asking for confirmation prior to submission.

Google said the expanded Ask Maps features are rolling out now wherever Ask Maps is available for the live transit widget, more personalized responses, and the “remembering past conversations” behavior. Food ordering, discovering hotels and events, and conversational contributions are rolling out in the U.S., with additional countries and territories expected over time, and the company listed initial markets including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, and Mexico. As with any feature built on partner networks and real-time data, availability and exact functionality may vary by region.

For now, Google did not provide technical details on how agentic task completion is constrained for payments and order fulfillment beyond referencing partner integrations and the in-app cart flow. It also did not quantify rollout timelines beyond “rolling out now” language, or specify how ordering choices are ranked when multiple restaurants match criteria beyond the examples. Users looking to evaluate the update will likely focus on how reliably the feature selects restaurants on a route, how consistently it respects saved places and dietary needs, and how quickly transit delay updates reflect changes on the ground.