Google Maps and Polestar 3: using send-to-car for a Vegas road trip
With Polestar 3 making an appearance at CES in Las Vegas, and Google send-to-car just announced, we couldn’t resist testing it out with a road trip to an iconic Nevada landmark.
Before we start our adventure, and for those not in the know: CES, or the Consumer Electronics Show, is the most important event on the technology calendar. Hosted in Las Vegas, Nevada, every major technology brand in the world uses it as a platform to demo their latest and greatest innovations.
Polestar 3 was at the Android booth to demo Google’s newest additions for cars with Google built-in, namely – Google Chrome browser and send-to-car. If you want to read about everything announced, click here. Otherwise, join us for a world-first demo of Google Maps send-to-car in Polestar 3.
Google Maps’ send-to-car feature allows users to pre-plan trips on their mobile devices and then instantly transfer the planned route to their Polestar, allowing for convenient pre-planning and avoiding the need to enter a route in the car.
The new function is already available for Polestar 2, but it’s the Polestar 3 and the epic desert roads around Las Vegas that we are interested in today.
Despite its recent Formula One race, Las Vegas isn’t exactly famed for exhilarating driving. Cosseted by the comfort of a Polestar 3, however, traffic along the Vegas strip is all the more tolerable.
But if we really want to explore the performance of the car, our pre-planned route needs to head out to the Hoover Dam and the historic desert roads around it. All we need do is load up the route into our smartphone, hit “send to vehicle” and it’ll be waiting for us in the Polestar 3 when we need it.
The trick to a great Nevada drive is to head north from the Vegas strip towards Highway 147 and the ‘Rainbow Garden Loop’ hiking area. This is your first dropped pin you want to add to your Google Maps itinerary. The road stretches out miles ahead of you towards the horizon, flanked on either side by sand, rocks and rubble, with the Vegas skyline in your mirror.
Keep going and you will reach Lake Las Vegas. Not something you’d expect from a desert state, but just over the horizon is the vastness of the Colorado River.
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Now it’s time to turn right onto Lakeshore Road. Add ‘Sunset View Scenic Overlook’ to your route to be treated to incredible views of Las Vegas Bay.
Continue on down, keeping Lake Mead on your left, and you’ll reach the Hoover Dam lodge, as well as the start of the final approach to the dam itself.
The Hoover Dam is a monumental feat of engineering. Its hydroelectric plant has been generating energy since 1936, with the entire flow of the Colorado River passing through its turbines. It’s so big, in fact, that Lake Mead was formed entirely by the Dam and when full, can be up to 9.3 miles wide.
Many a road trip has ended with a visit to the Hoover Dam. Today, a drive in Polestar 3 joins that bucket list, made all the easier with the help of Google Maps and send-to-car.
