These are top 10 stocks traded on the Robinhood UK platform in July
By Libby George
LAGOS, July 24 (Reuters) - Commuters making their way
through Nigeria can now hear travel advice in a local voice on
Google Maps under new features aimed at attracting more users in
Africa that were unveiled by the company on Wednesday.
The local accents feature, unveiled at an event in the
commercial capital Lagos and also available on Google Assistant,
is the first move by the U.S. technology giant to offer such a
service in Africa.
Rapidly expanding populations, increased mobile phone
penetration and crowded cities that are often poorly signposted
have led technology firms to identify African countries as
potential growth areas. They are now offering transport features from detailed maps
to motorcycle ride-hailing services. Google's motorcycle
directions will also be available in Benin Republic, Ghana,
Rwanda, Togo and Uganda from Wednesday, the company said.
The technology behemoth owned by Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O said
it is aiming to capture new users and expand its appeal beyond
just drivers.
"There are 10 million (motorcycles) in Nigeria, it's hugely
popular," said Ramesh Nagarajan, Google's director of product
management. "We're going market by market based on popularity."
In the coming months, the maps feature will also allow users
in Lagos to seek directions on what it calls "informal transit"
- such as yellow danfo minibuses that ply virtually every road
in Lagos, but about which it is difficult for outsiders or even
Lagosians travelling to a new neighbourhood to find information.
Google partnered with local startup Road Preppers
Technologies Ltd to gather data on the different routes
available, and aims to tell users the best options available
based on traffic, weather and road conditions.
"What we're really hoping is for people who might be making
a trip to an unfamiliar town, maybe a journey they don't usually
take, to be able to discover the info they need to make that
journey," said Jeff Albertson, a Google senior product manager
who worked on the development.
The map will include information on the expected fare,
travel time and even photos of the bus stops to help guide
commuters. Outside Lagos, Google is expanding street view
imagery to Abuja, Benin City, Enugu and Ibadan.
Google has worked hard to expand in West Africa, especially
Nigeria, the continent's most populous country with an estimated
190 million citizens.
Last year it unveiled WiFi hotspots across Lagos, and in
2017 it launched a program to train millions of Africans in tech
skills to make them more employable.
Google declined to say what sort of investment it was
putting into the new developments.
(Writing by Libby George; Editing by Alexis Akwagyiram and Jan
Harvey)