Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., is updating its Maps app to emphasize ecologically friendly routes to users’ destinations, according to the company. Maps will soon recommend the auto route with the lowest carbon footprint, as long as it is not longer than other possibilities. The present system prioritizes the shortest routes, regardless of carbon emissions. According to Google, the new algorithm would estimate emissions using data such as road type, elevation, and traffic congestion. When users in places like New York and London seek directions to a location, they will see public transportation and cycling listed more prominently.
In an email, Russell Dicker, director of mobility product at Google Maps, stated, “This improves the earth and also helps drivers save money, as routes that need higher fuel usage also contribute to higher gas costs.”
Google Maps is exploring and releasing environmentally friendly choices, which executives say will help them reach environmental goals while also competing for consumers. In certain places, Lyft Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc.’s ride-hailing applications have begun to provide mass transport, bicycle, and scooter instructions, as well as the option to call a lower-emission automobile.
Such adjustments, according to transit advocates, can encourage consumers to pick environmentally friendly solutions.”We consider all possibilities that allow people choose driving directions into more safer, more egalitarian, and more sustainable transportation alternatives as great for all of our communities,” said Danny Harris, executive director of the advocacy organization Transportation Alternatives.
Some of the adjustments are categorized as nudges, which are little pushes included into user interfaces to influence people’s decisions without being forced. Companies such as Microsoft Corp.’s LinkedIn and Pinterest Inc., for example, are augmenting their formal content standards with nudges in an effort to maintain their platforms positive and free of improper information.
Google Maps will not hide higher-emission routes, according to the company: users will be able to pick between their alternatives on the service, which will provide projected trip time as well as expected carbon emissions for each. A green leaf emblem and a carbon-emission estimate distinguish the environmentally friendly alternative. Users may also adjust their preferences to take the shortest route possible, regardless of carbon emissions.
While Maps will emphasize cycling instructions for users who like to ride their bikes, it will still include vehicle routes for typical drivers. According to experience designers, nudges aren’t always the ideal approach.
“Imposing nudges at the time might not be the greatest method,” said Stanley Hines, a user experience designer at Stink Studios, an advertising firm. “You don’t know the user’s precise reason for using the app at a certain moment, and it may not offer way to develop a consistent habit.”
People use Maps for a variety of reasons, including convenience and avoiding traffic, and any nudges that direct users toward routes that don’t provide those benefits may turn them off. Mr. Hines believes that telling people that they have made a difference would encourage them to continue to make low-emission decisions.
“It would offer customers a sense of awareness if Uber, Lyft, or Google Maps started to create new ways to deliver weekly summaries on how green users were, how much time they saved, or lowered emissions that contributed to the environment,” he added.