Google announced today it is expanding its options for eco-friendly routing on Google Maps in order to 40 more countries across Europe. Eco-friendly routes, first introduced to U. S. -based users last year, offer to show more fuel-efficient routes instead of the fastest ones. Users can see the eco-friendly route marked with a leaf label.
To adjust settings for eco-friendly routes, users can tap on their profile picture on Search engines Maps, head to Settings > Navigation Settings, then scroll down to Route Options. Users may tap on the “Prefer fuel-efficient routes” option to turn on or turn off fuel-efficient routing.
The company is also launching a new feature with regard to car owners to choose their vehicle’s engine type in order to get personalized suggestions regarding fuel-efficient paths best suited intended for the motor. In the particular coming weeks, users will be able to head to the settings mentioned above, and select the engine type — petrol or gas, diesel, hybrid or electric vehicle (EV) — to get navigation.
Engine selector option for eco-friendly routes on Google Maps. Image Credits: Google
“This technology is made possible thanks to insights from the U. H. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and data from your European Environment Agency. By pairing this information along with Google Maps driving trends, we were able to develop advanced machine learning models trained on the particular most popular engine types in a given region, ” the company said in a blog post.
Search engines claimed that after introducing eco-friendly ways in the U. S. and Canada it has been capable to save carbon emissions equivalent to 100, 000 cars.
Over the years, Google has tried to encourage people to take a lot more eco-friendly routing options by introducing new features within Google Maps. In 2018, the firm first introduced EV charging station information to the app . In July, the company rolled out features for bike navigation with details like the amount of car traffic plus types of roads along the route .