I Took Google Gemini on a Road Trip and Was Pleasantly Surprised

The integration of Gemini in the navigation mode of Google Maps that was announced last November is now appearing more widely in the apps for Android and iOS, giving you access to the upgraded AI when you're on the road.

It means that when you say "hey Google," Gemini will pop up rather than Google Assistant, and you're going to get a more advanced and conversational experience. Besides all the usual navigation and map search jobs, Gemini in Google Maps can answer questions, look up information, and do a lot of the same tasks that it can in its own dedicated app.

As soon as I saw that my app had been updated, I took it out for a test drive using the Android app and Android Auto, to see if Gemini could be relied upon as a traveling companion.

Gemini helps you get from A to B

Gemini will look up map options for you. Credit: Lifehacker

Gemini is generally helpful and reliable when it comes to getting from one place to another. Every request I gave the AI in terms of finding places and navigating there was carried out promptly and correctly, and it's possible to easily adjust destinations or add extra stops using your voice.

Commands like "what time will I get there," "what's the traffic like on the route," and "what's my next turn" all work well. You can ask about the weather wherever you're heading, or get details of reviews and ratings for the place you're going to. Changing my mind and switching to a different destination was much more straightforward using voice commands than it would've been tapping at the Android Auto screen.

The biggest issue I had was getting back to the main navigation view after searching for stop-off options along the route—Gemini didn't seem to understand "go back to the navigation view" (although it said that it did), and in the end I had to say "clear the search results off the screen" to get back to the turn-by-turn directions.

I had to speak quite loudly and clearly to be properly understood, and Gemini occasionally made a couple of mistakes in interpreting the names of places I was looking up. However, it was smart enough to understand context: When I was heading to a church, for example, I only had to use its full name the first time, and then I could refer to it just as "the church" after that.

The AI remains limited by the data it has—Gemini said it didn't have enough information available when I requested a more scenic route to my destination—but overall it's helpful and proactive. I often got asked if there was anything else I needed (similar to how the actual Gemini app works), and was regularly told to enjoy my drive.

Gemini can help with more than just directions

You'll still need a strong cell connection to access the web. Credit: Lifehacker

You get the full Gemini experience in Google Maps and Android Auto, so you can ask it anything you want, really. The AI gave me relevant and accurate information about TV shows, music, and stories in the news, though it wasn't completely immune to the odd hallucination: It told me the Galaxy S26 was a "significant departure" from the Galaxy S25 that came before it (it isn't).

I was able to ask about road regulations and road signs, and Gemini was able to feed the right information back, while regularly reminding me to concentrate on my driving. Google says the experience is like "having a knowledgeable friend in the passenger seat" and that's not far off—although sometimes the conversation can be a little stilted.

Gemini can play music, as well—it can find songs, artists, and playlists inside apps like YouTube Music and Spotify. It mostly worked without a hitch, though on one occasion I had to ask twice for the music to stop, and the AI only got halfway there when I asked to switch to Pocket Casts (the app appeared, but the audio didn't play).

Being able to tap into emails, calendar appointments, and incoming messages while on the move is another genuinely useful Gemini feature, and I was able to get the details of an incoming text and respond to it without taking my eyes of the road—really handy if you need to let people know where you are or when you'll be arriving.

A handful of bugs and missteps aside, I was impressed with Gemini in Google Maps: It actually does seem to be as smart as Google says it is. It may have taken a while for the Google-Assistant-to-Gemini switchover to happen, but now that it's here, I found it to be a polished and useful experience.

View the full article