Last October, the Ford F-150 Lightning added EV routing capability via Apple Maps, giving iOS users a better way to plan out their trips and essentially take the guesswork out of charging stops along road trips. Just a couple of months later, Blue Oval CEO Jim Farley hinted that Ford EV routing was coming for Google Maps users at some point in the future as well. At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Google revealed that a number of Ford and Lincoln vehicles will launch with its built-in feature this year, and noted that Ford EVs will also soon be receiving a charging info upgrade, too. Details on many of these changes have thus far been a bit elusive, but now, we know a little more about Google’s new Ford EV routing feature, specifically.
This information comes to us from Ford’s Global Product Manager for EV Routing and Range, Adam Diehm, who posted some pertinent details on LinkedIn recently. According to Diehm, Ford Mustang Mach-E and Ford F-150 Lightning users will be the first to receive the new EV routing feature through Google Maps and Android Auto when it begins rolling out via an over-the-air software update later this year.
The Ford EV routing feature gives users a wealth of information such as what state of charge they can expect to have when they arrive at their destination, suggested charging stops along their route, and the minimum amount of charge time the system recommends for each stop. Additionally, users will receive an end-of-range indicator and the state of charge they can expect to be at when they arrive at their next stop.
The act of using this feature will be quite simple and straightforward, too. Users simply connect their phone to their vehicle as always, which activates Android Auto and Google Maps for navigation purposes. From there, Google Maps takes over and delivers all of the aforementioned routing information to users, which – given its usefulness – should make it rather popular moving forward.
We’ll have more on Ford EV routing via Google Maps soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for non-stop Ford news coverage.
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