MapQuest, who knew? A week ago, the app seemed like just another long-forgotten relic from the dotcom glory days. Now, it’s surged to the top of app download charts after the company ignored an executive order from President Donald Trump by refusing to relabel Lake Ontario as Lake America. And the company apparently is going to keep riding the wave.
The 30-year-old app announced that it was bringing its navigation service to Android Auto in an experimental phase. Thus, drivers can use MapQuest on their dashboard infotainment screens rather than Google Maps if they have Android Auto enabled.
MapQuest announced the new integration on X, saying simply, “Android Gang, dinner is served.”
Android Auto is a software system that allows Android phone apps to display on a dashboard screen, which basically performs like a computer monitor. By connecting your phone to the vehicle’s Android Auto system, you can use map apps such as Google, Waze and now MapQuest, as well as stream music and listen to podcasts or use AI programs like Google Assistant or Gemini to send texts and make calls.
What about Apple users? A message on MapQuest’s help center noted that “CarPlay is coming to the MapQuest iOS app soon!”
In addition to basic navigation, the MapQuest app is trying out a crowdsourcing feature on Android Auto. Drivers and passengers can report accidents, road closures and activity by police and other first-responders on the app so that other drivers might know what’s coming up for them on the roads.
As a comparison, MapQuest and Google Maps both have the basics — planning a route from Point A to Point B with an estimated travel time, a computer voice telling when and where to turn and search functionality to find businesses and other locations. But Google Maps also has public transit directions, indoor maps for malls and airports and user reviews of businesses through its integration with Google Search.
Read more: Google’s In-Car Gemini Dimmed the Sunroof, Ordered Dinner and Became My Tour Guide
MapQuest did not say if all Android Auto users would be able to use it or how long the beta testing would last. A representative for MapQuest did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
MapQuest back in the spotlight
It’s been a while since “MapQuest” rolled off the tongue of many Americans. The company launched on Feb. 5, 1996, and within a few years, it controlled nearly all of the market share for online mapping, with 2 million page views per day in 1999. But the company began to decline after Google launched its maps app in 2005.
That changed earlier this week. MapQuest refused to change Lake Ontario to Lake America on its maps, as Trump called for with an executive order on Aug. 27. Google and Apple complied, but MapQuest and Microsoft haven’t.
Within days, MapQuest became the No. 1 most-downloaded app in the US, with more than 1.5 million downloads since Trump’s order. The company also created a widget that lets you name the lake whatever you want.
MapQuest General Manager Doug Berger told CNN’s Erin Burnett, “We were absolutely blown away by the response,” he said. “It’s completely shocking.”
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