Google Maps will now be able to order food, buy event tickets, book hotels, and give even more personalized recommendations, the tech giant announced on Thursday. Google embedded its AI chatbot into Maps back in March in a conversational feature it’s calling “Ask Maps.” Now, the conversational assistant will also be able to “handle complex, multi-step tasks for you using new agentic capabilities,” Google announced in a blog post. For example, if you want to order food to pick up on your way home from the office or if you’re craving a specific dish and don’t know where to get it near your location, Google wants you to let Maps handle (some of) that instead. “It’ll find open restaurants along your route that serve what you’re craving and can even consider things like your saved places or specific dietary needs,” Google Maps chief Miriam Daniel said in the blog post. “Once you select a restaurant, Ask Maps can automatically add the dish you’re looking for directly to your cart so you can easily review and complete your order.”
So it sounds like the agentic feature automates some of the steps of finding a restaurant and ordering food, but not the whole thing, as you still need to select from Maps’ shortlist and complete the order. The food ordering feature will rely on partnerships with food industry payment processing platforms Square and Toast at first launch, and will later include Uber Eats.
