Google Maps for Trucks: What 10,000 Tours Show and What Dispatchers Use Instead
Can you set Google Maps to truck mode? No. Google Maps has no truck mode. It doesn't know your weight, bridge heights, truck bans, truck speed or driving-time rules. It always calculates the car route. For trucks, you need a truck route planner with a vehicle profile.
Every vendor says that. We measured it.
Want to see the legal truck route right away? Try the truck route planner for free.
What 10,000 real tours show
We calculated 10,000 real tours twice: once as the legal 40-tonne route, once as the Google car route. Same origin, same destination. The result:
All the details, methodology, charts, breakdown by short haul, regional and long haul, real example tours, are in the full study: 10,000 truck routes vs. Google Maps.
Why Google gets trucks wrong
1. Google plans roads your truck isn't allowed to drive. Bridges, weight limits, truck bans. A real example from the study: Google says 15.9 km, the truck needs 41.7 km, because the Rhine crossing is closed to 40 tonnes. Whoever quotes with Google kilometers pays the difference.
2. Google calculates with car speed and cannot be set to truck speed. A 40-tonner drives 80-90 km/h and really needs around 1 h 17 min per 100 km on long haul. Google calculates with about an hour. Over 700 km, that's more than 2 hours of difference. Every arrival time is too optimistic.
3. Google doesn't know driving-time rules. A real tour from the study: Google says 7 h 49 min, which looks completely uncritical within a 9-hour driving day. In reality the truck needs 9 h 51 min, above the regular daily driving limit, legal only on one of the two 10-hour days allowed per week, with 9 minutes to spare. Plan on the Google time and you systematically underestimate the driving-time risk. One roadwork, and the delivery slot turns into demurrage.
What that costs
In road transport, 1 to 3 % profit is left at the end, up to 5 % in good exceptional cases. The costs per tour are fixed. Every percent missing from the calculation is missing from the profit.
Add the mechanics of your price: kilometers times an experience-based rate, one rate per segment, with buffer, empty kilometers and loading times priced in. On average, it's good. But no tour is the average: even the perfect rate is broken by every 3rd long-haul tour, and the tour above it costs real money (demurrage, a lost slot), while the tour below it saves almost nothing. Over-recovery and under-recovery don't balance out in euros. And the kilometers in your price often come from Google: an unrecognized detour is missing one to one. 22 % more kilometers is 22 % of the freight price.
An example with round numbers: a tour sold for €1,000, 2 % margin = €20 profit. Be off by just 0.5 % (€5), and a quarter of the profit is gone. We measured more than that: a single unrecognized regional detour (around 30 unpaid kilometers plus half an hour of driver time) quickly eats a full day's profit. And one burst delivery slot (€150-300 in total damage: demurrage under Section 412 of the German Commercial Code, HGB, plus follow-up costs) wipes out the profit of five to ten tours.
When does a truck route planner pay off?
The IMPARGO Professional plan (truck routes, toll and vehicle cost calculation) costs €34.90 per month (billed annually; €44.90 monthly). The Basic plan is free, with a limited route and toll scope.
The math is short and conservative: one kept delivery slot saves €150-300, that alone pays for the subscription for four to eight months. Every avoided detour quickly saves a day's profit on top. One kept delivery slot per quarter, and the planner is paid for. Everything above that is margin. The value of a reliable promise (ETA and a legal shift) comes on top.
One kept delivery slot pays for the planner. Run the numbers for free.
What Google Maps is still good for
Free, strong address search, Street View for the gate and the yard. For the car and a first look at the site: great. Just not for the two numbers your money stands on: truck kilometers and truck hours.
The alternative: a truck route planner with a vehicle profile
A truck route planner delivers exactly these two numbers:
Real truck kilometers. The planner knows your vehicle: weight, height, length. It only plans roads your truck is allowed to drive. No surprise bridge. No fine. Quotes that hold.
Real truck hours. Truck speed instead of car speed. And: IMPARGO plans driving and rest times right in. Breaks are built into the route and the arrival time. Before you commit, you see whether the tour legally fits the shift, and when the truck will really arrive.
Real toll. A 40-tonner pays around 35 cents of toll per kilometer, depending on route and emission class. That's a multiple of typical margins. Without the toll per route, every €/km calculation is a guess. A truck route planner with a toll calculator puts it straight onto route and costs.
Route, toll, costs, CO₂ in seconds, and with one click you send the truck-legal route to your driver via the DriverApp with built-in truck navigation: the planned route is the driven route.
Google Maps vs. truck route planner at a glance
Frequently asked questions
Can you switch Google Maps to truck mode?
No. Google Maps has no truck mode and can't be switched to truck dimensions, weight or speed. For legal truck routes you need a truck route planner with a vehicle profile.
Is there a free Google Maps for trucks?
There's no real Google Maps for trucks. But the IMPARGO Basic plan offers free truck route planning with a limited scope.
Does Google Maps have a truck mode?
No. Only car, bicycle, public transport and walking. Truck dimensions, weights and access bans are missing.
Is it illegal to use Google Maps in a truck?
No. But the driver is liable for restrictions, and Google doesn't show them.
Does Google Maps calculate truck tolls?
No. A truck route planner with a toll calculator puts the toll per vehicle class straight into the costs.
How much does a truck route planner cost?
The IMPARGO Basic plan is free (limited scope). Professional with full truck route, toll and cost calculation: €34.90/month billed annually (€44.90 monthly). Try it for free →
When does a truck route planner pay off?
Conservatively, from one kept delivery slot per quarter: it saves €150-300 in demurrage and follow-up costs and pays for the planner for months. Every avoided detour (on short haul, 1 in 10 routes under 50 km is affected) comes on top, as does a reliable arrival time as a promise to your customer. Try it for free →
Why is there no truck mode in Google Maps?
Google Maps is a consumer product for cars. Vehicle profiles (weight, height, length), truck bans and driving-time rules aren't in the data, not even in the paid Google Routes API. Truck routing requires dedicated restriction data for every road.
Can a truck route planner plan driving and rest times?
Yes. IMPARGO plans driving and rest times directly into the route and the arrival time. Google Maps doesn't know driving-time rules.
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Data basis: our own study of 10,000 randomly sampled 40-tonne tours, IMPARGO truck routing vs. the Google Maps car route for identical origin/destination pairs. Full methodology and all analyses in the study.
