ICANN expressly forbid google, and other companies from operating these gTLDs as "dotless" domains back when they approved them. Annoyingly, URLs like "maps.google" aren't set up to go where you'd expect.
Maps is a little weird because while originally they were bundling maps and search and a bunch of products together they have had to back off on that strategy due to the recent antitrust concerns and bundling so now they are purposefully separating the products and the domains further.
$ curl -v maps.google.com
[...]
< HTTP/1.1 302 Found
< Location: http://maps.google.com/maps
[...]