Google's using AI to plan electric car trips because EV charging is still a nightmare

Google announced today a new feature for electric vehicle owners that uses artificial intelligence to sort through thousands of public charging stations while finding the best route. The level of technology needed to make this type of route planning functional is a pretty clear indication of what an unholy mess EV charging in America is today. In a blog post published Wednesday, Google acknowledges that route planning in an EV can be like "solving a puzzle" (which is an overly polite way of saying it), with EV owners needing to find the right charging station within range that also has the specific type of plug their car needs. The new feature will only work for electric vehicles with Google's native Android Automotive system installed as their primary operating system. Right now, the only two models with Android Automotive are the Polestar 2 and Volvo XC40 Recharge, but Google says more are on the way.