Google Maps eco-friendly directions are coming to 40 European countries

Last October, Google added new, eco-friendly driving directions to Maps. In the US, you could pull up a driving route that would take into account things like congestion and incline to find you the directions that are best for your fuel economy. As part of a handful of Maps announcements today, Google says the feature will be available in "nearly 40" European countries, though we didn't get a list of everywhere it'll be available. Google had previously added the feature to maps in Canada and Germany.

Just like in the US, these routes are often times not the fastest, so you'll have to pick between whether speed is your ultimate priority. It'll show you both routes, and will default to the more eco-friendly option when the difference in time is small. But if you want to always default to the fastest route, you can do so in the Google Maps settings. 

Regardless of whether you use this feature in the US, Canada or Europe, Google is also including a new preference setting that lets you tell the app what time of vehicle you drive. You'll be able to specify whether your car runs on gas (or diesel), is a hybrid or a full electric vehicle. That'll affect the specific directions, although we can't say yet just how different they will be. As is often the case with Google updates, the company says this new feature will be rolling out over the coming weeks.