Tolls are now available on Google Maps.
When we first learned about this last year, we were surprised to see that Google Maps had copied an essential function from Waze—calculating the cost of tolls on a certain route. Almost a year and a half later, the functionality has finally been implemented.
This was first revealed by Google in April, with a promise that the update will begin going out in May. In a blog post, Google confirmed that it appears to be occurring, albeit a bit behind schedule (opens in new tab).
Upon first glance, it appears to be a helpful function. Instead than merely informing you that a route includes tolls and providing you the option to skip them completely, it will use information supplied by toll providers to give you an approximate notion of how much you will spend for each as you approach the route. For example, if you have a toll pass, the route preview page will show it on the day and time of your trip.
The fact that the toll suppliers offer the charges implies that they should be quite accurate, even if Google Maps expressly calls them “estimated toll prices” in the blog article.
It’s possible that Google is taking precautions in case something goes wrong or prices suddenly rise or fall. A data-driven method like Google’s should be more accurate than the crowd-sourced one used by Waze at the very least. After all, people are less reliable than machines.
If you prefer, Google Maps will allow you avoid tolls each and every time you travel. Setting this up is as simple as clicking Route Options and checking the Avoid Tolls checkbox under the three dots located in the upper-right corner of the app screen.
In the United States, India, Japan, and Indonesia, toll pricing will be available on iOS and Android smartphones. More nations will be “coming soon,” although Google hasn’t specified which ones or when they will do so.
Google Maps and Waze’s gap has narrowed with the launch of this capability. Our Google Maps vs. Waze head-to-head comparison should help you make a decision.