Google Maps now shows traffic lights at intersections

Look closely and you'll see traffic light icons in the middle of each intersection. (credit: Ron Amadeo)

It looks like Google Maps is getting a new road feature: traffic lights. Google has been experimenting with marking intersections with traffic lights for a few months now, but today, as first spotted by Android Police, the feature is getting a wide rollout.

Google Maps traffic light support is just a small, static marker in the middle of an intersection indicating that there is a traffic light there. You have to zoom in really close to see the traffic lights, but if we zoom in far enough, we're seeing them on Android, iOS, and the Web. As always the map features are going to depend on Google's data set, and right now we're only seeing those in the US. They show up when browsing the map or navigating.

For now, it does not seem like Google has a use for the traffic lights other than displaying them on a map. It would be great if navigation could shout out "turn left at the next light" for verbal directions, but that's not happening yet. The state-of-the-art for traffic light navigation can be found in some Audis that, through a subscription service, can pull in live traffic light countdown data and can tell you how fast to go to make the next light.

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