This is how Google Maps will advise you about safer routes

Maps will lead users along safer routes, and to determine which routes are unsafe, Google looks at roads that are suddenly slowed down. Brute braking can cause accidents, but Google also uses artificial intelligence.

(Un)safe routes in Maps

Google Maps is designed to show the fastest way from A to B, but Google announced new route options last month. For example, your navigation can show eco-friendly routes or Google can give priority to safer routes if the difference in speed is not great.

Google will therefore investigate which routes are more likely to be unsafe, and for that purpose it will check which routes are severely slowed down, according to Auto-Evolution. This entails risks of collisions. Google can determine this slowing down on the basis of information from Maps users’ phones, in particular the data from the accelerometer. It detects when there is a sudden standstill.

The role of AI

Still, that raw data from the sensors alone is not enough, as it can be misleading. If your phone falls into the car from its holder, that could be enough to cause misleading accelerometer readings.

Google therefore uses artificial intelligence (AI) to combine the data of other users in addition to your measurements with the accelerometer, as well as data about the road itself. Think, for example, about traffic lights and crosswalks. All that data combined should tell Maps a little more about the degree to which different roads and therefore an entire route are safe.

Traffic information about falling over

It is striking that Google does not mention anything about the use of traffic data. Maps can literally show in the navigation when an accident has occurred that has caused a traffic jam. In this way, Google could literally find out where a lot of accidents happen.

One possible explanation for why Google does not use such data is because the traffic information is not available worldwide in Maps. The method that Google now describes works in principle worldwide, in any location or road. It is therefore the intention that this function will soon be available everywhere. It is not yet known exactly when that will be the case.

Would you like to use the safer route in Maps if it is about as fast as the fastest route? And what do you think of the eco-friendly routes? Let us know in the comments at the bottom of this article.

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