Google Maps now shows directions for two-wheelers in India.
Google has introduced a motorcycle mode in Google Maps that allows those on two-wheelers find the best route for their commute. The feature is designed for India, the world's largest two-wheeler market. With most bylanes in the country not wide enough to accommodate cars, launching a dedicated two-wheeler mode allows those on bikes and scooters find more optimized routes.
Just like four-wheeler navigation, motorcycle mode offers turn-by-turn directions, estimated time of arrival, and voice prompts. The company also talked about offline maps and landmark-based navigation, two features that were initially developed for India but made their way to global markets.
For now, it looks like the two-wheeler mode is limited to India, but Google may launch it in other markets provided there's enough interest.
Reader comments
Google Maps gets a dedicated two-wheeler mode in India
Waze just added motorcycle support for the US. Why the disparity?
Dunno. I bought my phone because of the ability to see the screen in direct sunlight so I can use it for motorcycle nav. I found that's pretty common among motorcyclists.
There's a pretty large niche that can be filled for motorcyclist, navigation and associated safety features.
I've made the suggestion to have the option "Is Lane filtering/Splitting allowed at your location?" selection, because on a motorcycle/Scooter you can slash 10 to 15mins off your travel time to work beating the Google Maps ETA times by a lot at times (Barring some fool doesn't block you going about your daily business because "Its not fair')