People shopping for electric vehicles, heat pumps, or air conditioning units will see enhanced search results on Google in a series of updates company hopes will help people live more sustainable, climate-friendly lives. The tech giant unveiled the new updates alongside a host of expanded AI tools for people and policymakers to reduce tailpipe emissions and better predict floods, wildfires, and extreme heat.
As the effects of climate change intensify, Google has taken to routinely rolling out packages of updates aimed at helping individuals and organizations reduce their carbon footprint. Taken together, today’s annnouncements represent a renewed effort by the company to help the world mitigate the impact of climate change and better prepare for a future dominated by climate upheaval, said Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.
“Fighting climate change is humanity’s next big moonshot”
“Fighting climate change is humanity’s next big moonshot,” Pichai said in a video message shared with reporters. “And as with any moonshot, we’re going to have to answer some big questions to get there.”
There’s a lot that’s being announced today, so here’s the rundown:
Electric vehicle sales are growing by leaps and bounds as more models hit dealerships. And EV newbies are increasingly looking for trusted information to help them decide whether they’re ready to make the switch. Into the fray steps Google, which wants to be a one-stop shop for anyone looking to electrify their life.
The company is rolling out new search results for EV shoppers by including information about possible government incentives, like the federal EV tax credit in the US. That way people can see whether the vehicle they have their eyes on qualify for any discounts. The improved search results are already live in the US, and will be hitting France and Germany later this year.
EV owners will also get more details about battery range when search for specific models in Google. In particular, they’ll see information about how they can drive on a single charge, and will be able to customize routes based on elevation change and speed limits so they can determine how many charging stops they’ll need along the way. The battery range explorer is launching in the US, and will be available in Europe early next year.
Estimating accurate battery range in an EV is a bit of a moving target, subject to a lot of external factors such as temperature. Google is pulling information about the car, such as the mass and battery size, from the Knowledge Graph, Google’s database of billions of facts about people, places, and things. The company is also sourcing road load data from the EPA, which captures factors such as rolling friction, aerodynamics, and mechanical friction.
Google is also rolling out an updated fuel cost calculator for electric and gas car search results, giving people the ability to compare their per-mile costs. This will allow people to calculate potential savings when switching from gas to electric powertrains. This feature is now available in 21 countries around the world.
Lastly, fuel-efficient routing, which uses AI to suggest routes with fewer hills, less traffic and constant speeds with the same or similar ETA, is being expanded to India and Indonesia — two populous nations with major pollution problems.
For people who want to use non-car modes of transportation, Google is collaborating with local governments to update its cycling routes in Google Maps. For example, by working with Transport for London, Google is adding hundreds of kilometers of new bike lanes to its navigation tools.
This builds on a long-term project at Google to provide an easier way to get better multi-modal directions for people who want to use multiple sustainable modes of transportation, like cycling, transit, and walking.
Meanwhile, in France, Google is piloting a new feature that suggest public transit and walking routes alongside your driving route “if they’re practical and comparable in time,” said Yael Maguire, vice president of Geo Sustainability.
Google’s sustainable aviation project is getting bigger. Earlier this year, the company announced that it was partnering with American Airlines and Bill Gates climate investment fund, Breakthrough Energy, to chart more sustainable flight routes. The aim was to help pilots limit a flight’s impact on the climate by avoiding routes that create contrails, those white streaks in the sky that planes sometimes leave behind.