Updated Google Maps now has a new ‘Drive Mode’ with real-time traffic updates and ETAsMumbai, Jan 14(AZINS) Google Maps is arguably one of the most practically useful apps out there--from the days when any trip to a new city was marked with trepidation when it came to getting around, Google Maps on a GPS-equipped came and changed all that.

Over time the app has only gotten better, with free voice-assisted navigation, route planning and the like. And it continues--there’s a new version that has just been released (Maps v9.19) which introduces among other things a new feature called the ‘Drive Mode’.

This particularly smart addition uses Google’s pre-existing knowledge of your travel habits to automatically and proactively guess where your next journey is going to take you, and make appropriate suggestions to get you there. So with this feature you may not have to specifically pick a destination each time you fire up the Google Maps app. The feature also uses several of Google’s data mining smarts including things like your location history to figure out where you might be headed, while throwing in things like traffic updates and ETAs based on the current situation along your route.

The update also includes several minor, yet useful, additions across the board including a newly designed settings on the timeline view and a new audio toggle in the navigation section that lets you quickly mute those sometimes bothersome voice prompts.