This is not a problem with Google Maps. There are currently (give or take a 2% margin of error) 18 ba-zillion people using Google Maps, and about 10 or 20 of you are having reboot and lock up issues. It's not Google and it's not your phone...it's a conflict that Google Maps is having with some other gps app on your phone. Keep in mind that "gps app" doesn't have to mean an app that gives you directions. It could be an app that uses gps for location (like a shopping/prices app) or to look up the nearest movie theater, etc...
To fix this, you can either start uninstalling selected apps and see if you stumble across the right one, or you can do a factory reset and elect to NOT restore your data. Instructions for this can be found in a thread that has the word "bingo" in the title.