Google Maps expands its eco-friendly navigation feature to 40 more countries

Google had first introduced its eco-friendly navigation feature for its US-based users last year and now the tech giant is expanding this feature to 40 more countries across Europe. The feature offers to show more fuel-efficient routes instead of the fastest ones. The eco-friendly route can be seen marked with a leaf label.

In order to adjust their settings for eco-friendly routes, users can tap on their profile picture on Google Maps, then go to Settings > Navigation Settings, then scroll down to Route Options. They can then tap on the “Prefer fuel-efficient routes" option in order to turn on or turn off fuel-efficient routing or eco-friendly navigation.

Another feature being launched by Google for Maps is for car owners to be able to choose their vehicle's engine type to get personalized suggestions for fuel-efficient routes that are best suited for the engine type. The feature will e introduced in the coming weeks, where users will be able to head to the settings mentioned above, and select the engine type from petrol or gas, diesel, hybrid or electric vehicle (EV), for navigation.

This technology is based on insights derived from the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and data from the European Environment Agency. "By pairing this information with Google Maps driving trends, we were able to develop advanced machine learning models trained on the most popular engine types in a given region," the company said in a blog post.

The post also revealed that since the company introduced eco-friendly routes in the US and Canada, it has been able to save carbon emissions equivalent to 100,000 cars. The company aims to further enhance its endeavor to encourage people to take more eco-friendly navigation options.