Google Maps Upgrades 'Ask Maps' AI to Enable Food Ordering and Hotel Booking

Google has updated its "Ask Maps" AI feature in Google Maps, allowing users to order food, book hotels, and edit location details through conversational interactions. The update also introduces Gemini-powered "Personal Intelligence," which can connect to Gmail to factor in upcoming flights and dinner reservations when planning routes. This update represents a significant shift from passive information retrieval to active agentic workflows within a major consumer application, showcasing how LLMs can perform real-world transactional tasks. It highlights Google's strategy to deeply integrate Gemini across its ecosystem to create a more personalized, action-oriented user experience. The new food ordering and hotel booking features are currently live in the US, while "Ask Maps" itself is expanding to countries like Australia, Brazil, and Japan. The Personal Intelligence feature is disabled by default, requiring users to opt-in to connect their Gmail accounts.