Google Maps adds eco-friendly routing to save fuel, cut emissions

Google Maps is rolling out a fairly significant feature update to its Android and iOS apps to give folks an option to aid in reducing vehicle emissions. It’s called eco-friendly routing, and while it was announced a couple weeks ago, we’re just starting to see it show up on our phones.

Essentially, Google Maps will suggest a route that lowers fuel consumption. It may be slightly longer or take more time than the traditional “fastest” route, but the goal is to save fuel here. And in some cases, Google says the fastest route will also be the most fuel efficient route, so it’ll only share the one option.

If multiple routes are displayed, Google says it will show you the relative fuel savings (shows up as a percentage) and ETA difference between the fuel efficient and fastest routes. You can then make your choice between the two — the eco route is singled out with a green leaf to ensure you know which it is. If you’d rather not see the eco-friendly route, you can turn the feature off, and Google will only display the fastest route.