Using the car for thousands of motorists is a daily constant, necessary to reach the workplace or to accompany their children to school. To avoid getting stuck in traffic, it has become common to rely on an online navigation service, connected and able to update the driver in real time on possible queues and indicating the fastest route. Now Google Maps adds a new feature, designed to save on fuel and at the same time reduce polluting emissions. The eco-sustainable route, active from today in 40 European countries including Italy, will be able to find the route with the lowest fuel consumption based on the type of engine.
Eco-sustainable path, how it works
For example, diesel engines are usually more efficient at higher speeds than petrol or gas engines, while hybrid and electric vehicles perform better in bumpy traffic. For this reason, an option will be made available in the coming weeks that will allow drivers using environmentally friendly routes in Europe, the United States and Canada to select the type of engine (petrol or gas, diesel, hybrid or electric vehicle) and find the best route and the most accurate fuel or energy efficiency estimates. This technology is made possible thanks to data from the US Department of Energy’s National Laboratory for Renewable Energy (NREL) and data from the European Environment Agency. By matching this information to Google Maps driving trends, advanced machine learning models trained on the most popular engine types in a given region were developed.
New features
The new features include the search for “EV charging station” on Google Maps to see nearby charging stations. In addition to location it provides useful details, such as grip types and reload speeds. Also, for some stations you can see availability in real time, which helps to avoid waiting and save time. Another function comes from the possible alternative cycle routes (for those traveling on two wheels) or to find bike and scooter sharing stations nearby in over 500 cities around the world, including Rome, Milan and other Italian cities. More information also on the use of public transport and on the search for hotels with high sustainability.