Google Maps Has Launched Its “Custom Food Ordering” Feature, but Don’t Get Too Excited.
As one of the world’s largest tech companies, Google embeds its AI features and platforms into every product. So it’s no surprise that its incredibly popular navigation app, Google Maps, is getting a similar update. While the app is easy to use without much AI, you can use Google’s latest AI features to discover new restaurants, places to stay, or popular spots in your area. Now, Google is boasting about the launch of new “agent-based” features that will even allow the app to order food for you—sort of.
Ask Maps has been updated to an agent app.
In March, the company launched ” Ask Maps “—a chatbot-like interface within Google Maps that uses Gemini to help you find places on the map. For example, Google claims you can “ask Maps” to find a restaurant with available seating for six people on a specific date and time, while also meeting strict dietary requirements. This is roughly what you’d expect from the combination of Gemini and Google Maps: you “talk” to the map to find what you need.
Now Google is expanding these capabilities , introducing new operator assistance options to reduce the effort of ordering lunch (though not by much). Starting today, Google says Ask Maps can handle “complex, multi-step tasks,” including functions it can perform on your behalf, with the flagship feature being ordering food for you—or at least starting the ordering process.
Ask Maps can’t actually order food for you.
Google claims you can launch Ask Maps and type something like “order spicy seafood pad kee mao for pickup on the way home.” While you might think this feature would handle the entire query for you, Ask Maps doesn’t. Google says it will search for open restaurants along your route home and can even take your previous orders and dietary requirements into account. But once it offers suggestions, you’ll still need to select the restaurant you want to order from. After that, the agency features kick in: Google claims Ask Maps will remember your initial query and begin adding matching items to your cart through services like Square and Toast (Uber Eats support is coming soon). However, Ask Maps won’t actually order the food for you. You’ll still need to manually review your cart contents and confirm your order before the restaurant will receive it.
Other agency management features in Ask Maps
As part of the “Ask Maps” update, you can also ask questions about hotels and local events. Google suggests asking something like, “For a conference next week in downtown Miami, find me an affordable, highly rated hotel with an arthouse atmosphere and within walking distance of a gym and restaurants.” It’s certainly a complex query, and Google says “Ask Maps” will compare prices and availability to find the perfect hotel. The same goes for concerts and comedy shows: “Ask Maps” will return results based on your query, but you’ll need to click the link to purchase tickets yourself.
This is not yet the agent-based future we were promised.
I don’t have these features in the Google Maps app yet, so I can’t personally evaluate their effectiveness, but I’m not sure I understand the promise. Companies like Google promise that automated features will save us time and eliminate tedious or mundane tasks. And while this feature does shave about 30 seconds off the time it takes to place an order at a restaurant, that’s about it. Not only do you still have to intervene in several aspects of the process (including the actual ordering), but the entire process feels longer than it should. In my opinion, going to a restaurant’s website, placing an order myself, and then placing it (which I would have to do anyway) is much more efficient than asking Google’s AI to find a restaurant with a specific dish, create an order, and then ask me to leave a review.
Perhaps my opinion will change once I try this in practice, and perhaps this is just a step toward a future where Google Maps can actually handle your entire order. But I’m not sure I’d ever want to do that, especially when it comes to ordering multiple items for different people with potential dietary restrictions. Not only would it probably be faster to do it myself, but I’m not sure I’d trust all that complexity to AI. The last thing anyone needs is for the AI to hallucinate and forget to order something with an allergy listed.
Other new Ask Maps features
This update also includes Google’s ” Personal Intelligence ” feature, which pulls information from your various Google apps to provide more personalized results. So, you can ask Google Maps to find places to visit before your midday flight. Google Maps needs to access Gmail and Google Calendar, where it should look up your departure time and location, to fulfill your request with more personalized results than a simple search. This feature is disabled by default.
A new widget with real-time data for public transportation information has also been added, allowing you to track information in real time. You can also suggest changes to Google Maps interactively through the “Ask Maps” feature, including adding photos.