Tunnel navigation is now possible with Google Maps

The confusion as you get ready to leave the tunnel may be the worst part of using GPS to navigate through a tunnel. Sometimes your GPS will act completely stupid and remind you to continue to the route while it shows your car happily driving through a river, a trainyard, or a row of residential homes. Other times it will remember you’re on a road traveling through a tunnel and maintain the directions it was giving you when you went in.

However, Google Maps’ ability to display directions inside tunnels is about to improve. The Android version of the app may now use Bluetooth beacons to follow your movements in places where GPS signals are normally inaccurate, thanks to a new function that SmartDroid discovered.

Waze, owned by Google, claims that these beacons send Bluetooth signals that provide location information to your phone. Waze currently supports this capability. The software then “provides real-time traffic data as it would with a typical GPS connection” by utilizing this data together with the device’s mobile network.

The capability is limited to tunnels that have Bluetooth beacons installed; otherwise, it won’t function. Waze already has agreements in a number of global locations where beacons are installed, such as New York City, Chicago, Boston, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Brussels, and others. Since Google owns both apps, it’s unclear if Google Maps would use the same beacons, but we’ve contacted the company to find out more.

In Google Maps, choose your profile from the app’s top-right corner, then select Settings > Navigation Settings to activate the feature. Next, when Google Maps asks for permission to enable Bluetooth tunnel beacons, scroll to the bottom of the screen, toggle them on, and choose Allow.

As 9to5Google noted, some people claimed to have seen the function for the first time in October 2023, but it seemed to be spreading out broadly now. You will have to keep using Waze to find directions within tunnels if you own an iPhone because we still don’t know when or if Google Maps for iOS will be available.