Google Maps is adding new color options for your virtual vehicle icon

Finally, our long national nightmare is over.
 By 
Alex Perry
 on 
Google Maps icon on phone screen
It's not a huge change, but Google Maps keeps getting a little bit better over time. Credit: Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images

Google Maps users with cars are getting even more customization options soon.

Four years(!) after Google introduced the ability to change what your vehicle looks like on the navigation screen, Google is expanding those options even further, per Android Police. An upcoming update to the Google Maps app will include the option to choose from five new car models — including a hatchback, a Jeep, and something resembling a Tesla — along with eight new colors, giving users more control than before over the visual representation of their car in the app.

Previously, users could only choose between four options: a regular arrow, a yellow SUV, a red car, and a green pickup truck. Now, they'll have eight vehicles (if you want to call the arrow that) and eight colors for each. It should be noted that Android Police was only able to access this on the iOS version of Google Maps, and even then, it's not widely available yet. Since Google makes Google Maps, it stands to reason that the Android version will get this update at some point soon, too.


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Google Maps continues to be the de facto navigation app for a lot of folks, and Google keeps supporting it accordingly. The iPhone version got a redesign a few months ago, for example. Just remember that there are alternatives.

Topics Google

journalist alex perry looking at a smartphone
Alex Perry
Tech Reporter

Alex Perry is a tech reporter at Mashable who primarily covers video games and consumer tech. Alex has spent most of the last decade reviewing games, smartphones, headphones, and laptops, and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He is also a Pisces, a cat lover, and a Kansas City sports fan. Alex can be found on Bluesky at yelix.bsky.social.

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