Google Maps AI Upgrade: Ask Maps Now Handles Food Orders, Hotels, and Personalized Tips

Google Maps has upgraded its AI feature, Ask Maps, adding new agent capabilities that let users book food, find hotels and activities, and get personalized tips through conversation. The system considers dietary needs, current location, and saved places. For example, a user can say, "Order me a spicy seafood noodle dish for pickup on my way home," and it will find restaurants along the route that are open and offer that dish, then automatically add it to the cart for payment. Ask Maps also supports conversational editing of place details—like uploading a storefront photo to update opening hours. Food ordering, hotel search, and activity booking are now live in the US, with more countries coming soon. Google Maps will also integrate Personal Intelligence powered by Gemini, which reads data from other Google apps like Gmail to give more tailored answers—for instance, considering an upcoming flight or a dinner reservation when checking schedules. This feature starts with Gmail and is off by default, with Calendar support coming. Ask Maps now includes real-time transit info, showing delays for buses, trains, subways, or ferries. It has also launched in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, and Mexico.