Driver experience and navigation
Stay organized with collections
Save and categorize content based on your preferences.
The Driver experience and navigation capability is
part of the Mobility services packaging that embeds the Google Maps experience
into your driver application.
What can you do with driver experience and navigation?
With driver experience and navigation, you use both the Navigation SDK and
Driver SDK to tune the driving experience to suit your delivery model. Use the
Navigation SDK to create a turn-by-turn navigation experience in your app to
guide drivers in real-time. You can also customize the navigation experience to
match the look and feel of your app and enhance drivers' broader workflows with
optimized routes and drop off locations.
Customize the driving experience with the Navigation SDK, and use the Driver SDK
to enable your driver locations and route progress to be visualized through the
Consumer SDK scheduled tasks
overview and Fleet
Tracking capabilities.
Why use driver experience and navigation?
When you manage a delivery
fleet, it's crucial to improve your delivery predictability and driver
productivity to meet consumer expectations. Driver experience and navigation
helps you more efficiently route your drivers, avoid delays and missed
deliveries, and improve your driver's satisfaction.
- Improve driver satisfaction: Your app can help drivers feel in
control and informed as they accomplish a day of tasks. With the familiar
Google Maps navigation, your drivers don't have to learn a new map
interface. You can also customize the experience to reinforce your brand.
- Improve driver task productivity: Guide your drivers to the right
spot with routes that reflect real-time traffic. This information
is especially useful
for new, part-time, or seasonal drivers who need to quickly ramp up to
their tasks. In addition, you can provide custom routes and map elements
specific to your delivery service.
- Improve delivery predictability: With an app that embeds the Google
Maps experience, you can have more confidence that your drivers follow
expected route plans. Keeping your drivers within your application also
improves the quality of location signals you get.
How it works
The following diagrams shows the sequence of operations between all components
of Driver experience and navigation. The Driver SDK communicates location
updates to the Fleet Engine backend. The Navigation SDK presents turn by turn
directions (and other navigation information) to the driver. Your backend
handles all other delivery communication to Fleet Engine, such as creating and
updating vehicles and tasks.
On-demand trips
The following diagram shows the sequence of
operations for on-demand trips. It's divided in two key parts, the start
of the day when drivers enable location sharing to Fleet Engine, and a
simplified view of trip management using Fleet Engine components. For a
detail view of the trip process, see What is a
trip? in the On-demand trips documentation.
Scheduled tasks
The following diagram shows the sequence of
operations for scheduled tasks. This includes a matrix of a typical shipment
workday for a single driver along with how their work is handled in the
Fleet Engine system using the Fleet Tracking library.
Note: Your system can use both shipment tracking or
fleet tracking. With shipment tracking, Fleet Engine filters shipment and
driver information so that a customer see only information relevant to their
shipment.
How to use driver experience and navigation
This section describes one way you can implement a driver experience with
navigation. For ease of explanation, this example starts with the frontend
implementation first. You can start implementation either by integrating the
SDKs into your driver app first, or by integrating Fleet Engine with your
backend for task and vehicle creation.
- Integrate the Driver SDK into your driver app. The Driver SDK sends
real-time location signals to the Fleet Engine service.
The Driver SDK wraps the Navigation SDK. For details, see the
Driver SDK user guides for On-demand trips
(Android,
iOS)
and Scheduled tasks
(Android,
iOS).
- Implement features of the Navigation SDK into your driver app. The
Navigation SDK is a library that provides customized navigation
capabilities to your drivers, such as turn-by-turn instructions, customized
routes, and customized map elements. For full developer documentation, see
Navigation with Google Maps.
- Manage tasks and vehicle state with Fleet Engine. Fleet Engine is
the Mobility backend service that
can communicate with Fleet Engine by making either REST or gRPC calls.
For details, see the
Fleet Engine documentation.
Recommended content
Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. For details, see the Google Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2025-09-03 UTC.
[null,null,["Last updated 2025-09-03 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eDriver experience and navigation, part of Google Maps Mobility services, enables you to create custom navigation for delivery drivers using the Navigation and Driver SDKs.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThis solution helps improve driver satisfaction by offering familiar Google Maps navigation with custom branding and real-time traffic updates for enhanced productivity.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eIt also leads to better delivery predictability through optimized routing, location tracking, and integration with Fleet Engine for task management.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThis solution utilizes the Navigation SDK for a custom turn-by-turn navigation experience and the Driver SDK to share driver location and route progress with Fleet Engine for tasks or fleet tracking.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eTo implement, integrate the Driver and Navigation SDKs into your driver app and manage tasks/vehicles via Fleet Engine using REST or gRPC calls.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["The Driver experience and navigation capability is\npart of the Mobility services packaging that embeds the Google Maps experience\ninto your driver application.\n\nWhat can you do with driver experience and navigation?\n\nWith driver experience and navigation, you use both the Navigation SDK and\nDriver SDK to tune the driving experience to suit your delivery model. Use the\nNavigation SDK to create a turn-by-turn navigation experience in your app to\nguide drivers in real-time. You can also customize the navigation experience to\nmatch the look and feel of your app and enhance drivers' broader workflows with\noptimized routes and drop off locations.\n\nCustomize the driving experience with the Navigation SDK, and use the Driver SDK\nto enable your driver locations and route progress to be visualized through the\n[Consumer SDK scheduled tasks\noverview](/maps/documentation/mobility/journey-sharing/scheduled) and [Fleet\nTracking](/maps/documentation/mobility/operations/fleet-tracking') capabilities.\n\nWhy use driver experience and navigation?\n\nWhen you manage a delivery\nfleet, it's crucial to improve your delivery predictability and driver\nproductivity to meet consumer expectations. Driver experience and navigation\nhelps you more efficiently route your drivers, avoid delays and missed\ndeliveries, and improve your driver's satisfaction.\n\n- **Improve driver satisfaction:** Your app can help drivers feel in control and informed as they accomplish a day of tasks. With the familiar Google Maps navigation, your drivers don't have to learn a new map interface. You can also customize the experience to reinforce your brand.\n- **Improve driver task productivity:** Guide your drivers to the right spot with routes that reflect real-time traffic. This information is especially useful for new, part-time, or seasonal drivers who need to quickly ramp up to their tasks. In addition, you can provide custom routes and map elements specific to your delivery service.\n- **Improve delivery predictability:** With an app that embeds the Google Maps experience, you can have more confidence that your drivers follow expected route plans. Keeping your drivers within your application also improves the quality of location signals you get.\n\nHow it works\n\nThe following diagrams shows the sequence of operations between all components\nof Driver experience and navigation. The Driver SDK communicates location\nupdates to the Fleet Engine backend. The Navigation SDK presents turn by turn\ndirections (and other navigation information) to the driver. Your backend\nhandles all other delivery communication to Fleet Engine, such as creating and\nupdating vehicles and tasks. \n\nOn-demand trips\n\nThe following diagram shows the sequence of\noperations for on-demand trips. It's divided in two key parts, the start\nof the day when drivers enable location sharing to Fleet Engine, and a\nsimplified view of trip management using Fleet Engine components. For a\ndetail view of the trip process, see [What is a\ntrip?](/maps/documentation/mobility/fleet-engine/journeys/trips) in the **On-demand trips** documentation.\n\nScheduled tasks\n\nThe following diagram shows the sequence of\noperations for scheduled tasks. This includes a matrix of a typical shipment\nworkday for a single driver along with how their work is handled in the\nFleet Engine system using the Fleet Tracking library.\n\n**Note**: Your system can use both shipment tracking or\nfleet tracking. With shipment tracking, Fleet Engine filters shipment and\ndriver information so that a customer see only information relevant to their\nshipment.\n\nHow to use driver experience and navigation\n\nThis section describes one way you can implement a driver experience with\nnavigation. For ease of explanation, this example starts with the frontend\nimplementation first. You can start implementation either by integrating the\nSDKs into your driver app first, or by integrating Fleet Engine with your\nbackend for task and vehicle creation.\n\n1. **Integrate the Driver SDK into your driver app** . The Driver SDK sends real-time location signals to the Fleet Engine service. The Driver SDK wraps the Navigation SDK. For details, see the Driver SDK user guides for On-demand trips ([Android](/maps/documentation/mobility/driver-sdk/on-demand/android), [iOS](/maps/documentation/mobility/driver-sdk/on-demand/ios)) and Scheduled tasks ([Android](/maps/documentation/mobility/driver-sdk/scheduled/android), [iOS](/maps/documentation/mobility/driver-sdk/scheduled/ios)).\n2. **Implement features of the Navigation SDK into your driver app** . The Navigation SDK is a library that provides customized navigation capabilities to your drivers, such as turn-by-turn instructions, customized routes, and customized map elements. For full developer documentation, see [Navigation with Google Maps](/maps/documentation/navigation-sdk).\n3. **Manage tasks and vehicle state with Fleet Engine** . Fleet Engine is the Mobility backend service that can communicate with Fleet Engine by making either REST or gRPC calls. For details, see the [Fleet Engine documentation](/maps/documentation/mobility/fleet-engine).\n\nRecommended content"]]
