Google Maps is quietly adding more options for reporting road incidents

If you use Google Maps as your go-to navigation app, you’ve probably noticed the steady stream of new features Google has been adding. Recently, the app introduced new vehicle icons and streamlined saved location icons to reduce clutter. Incident reporting has also seen major improvements over the past year, and now, it looks like Google is expanding it even further with new weather-related reporting options.

Currently, Google Maps lets you report a handful of road incidents while navigating, including crashes, slowdowns, construction, lane closures, stalled vehicles, speed traps, and road obstructions. But now, it appears that Google is introducing even more options to make incident reporting more detailed.

We noticed that new report types like Flooded road, Low visibility, and Unplowed road have started showing up on Google Maps. The new options first appeared on Google Maps for Android Auto, and later on the Google Maps app for the iPhone. Unfortunately, these new options don’t seem to be available for Android devices just yet, but we expect them to roll out in the coming weeks.

The new incident report types haven’t rolled out widely yet

Not long ago, Google streamlined the incident reporting process on Google Maps. While reporting issues used to be a bit clunky, the company made it much easier last year by adding a dedicated “Report” button to the right-side toolbar, allowing users to quickly flag road conditions while navigating.

These new incident report types come after Google started integrating data from the Waze community, such as “Police reported ahead” alerts, into Google Maps late last year. Since mid-2024, the company has been working to enhance incident reporting across both of its navigation apps, even adding Gemini-powered Conversational Reporting to Waze last year.

Thanks: Moshe