A new Google Maps feature coming soon to the Polestar 4 EV can tell you exactly when to stop staying in your lane.
Live lane guidance goes beyond the lane-keeping driver assistance available on popular EVs. It processes video from the car’s camera to discern highway lane markings, enabling the built-in version of Google Maps to prompt you to start moving over for an upcoming exit.
(Credit: Google)
Google Maps already gives drivers what should be more than enough of a heads-up about upcoming highway exits, and since last year it’s even specified the lane you need to be in. But we’re all too used to idiot drivers from [state next to yours] careening from the leftmost lane directly to the right in the last possible seconds.
This level of integration is possible because Polestar’s vehicles use a built-in Google software stack to run their dashboard touch screens (which still support Apple’s CarPlay mirroring of iPhones). Google, in turn, has been moving aggressively to infuse AI features into non-computer platforms such as cars.
Google doesn’t specify when other Polestar vehicles may get this update or provide that much detail about when it will start showing up on the Polestar 4, a four-door SUV that starts at $56,400, and support types of roads beyond highways.
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“Live lane guidance is coming first to Polestar 4s in the US and Sweden in the coming months,” Google says. “It’ll expand to more road types and cars in partnership with key automakers.”
This new feature still requires a human to turn the wheel in response to its prompts. Automated lane changes remain confined to such partially autonomous platforms as GM’s Super Cruise and Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised); the latter has had its own issues staying in its lane.
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Rob Pegoraro writes about interesting problems and possibilities in computers, gadgets, apps, services, telecom, and other things that beep or blink. He’s covered such developments as the evolution of the cell phone from 1G to 5G, the fall and rise of Apple, Google’s growth from obscure Yahoo rival to verb status, and the transformation of social media from CompuServe forums to Facebook’s billions of users. Pegoraro has met most of the founders of the internet and once received a single-word email reply from Steve Jobs.