diff --git a/selfdrive/navd/map_renderer.py b/selfdrive/navd/map_renderer.py
index 8d525ac73e..e44b883436 100755
--- a/selfdrive/navd/map_renderer.py
+++ b/selfdrive/navd/map_renderer.py
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ void map_renderer_free_image(void *inst, uint8_t *buf);
   return ffi, ffi.dlopen(lib)
 
 
-def wait_ready(lib, renderer):
+def wait_ready(lib, renderer, timeout=None):
+  st = time.time()
   while not lib.map_renderer_loaded(renderer):
     lib.map_renderer_update(renderer)
 
@@ -40,6 +41,9 @@ def wait_ready(lib, renderer):
 
     time.sleep(0.01)
 
+    if timeout is not None and time.time() - st > timeout:
+      raise TimeoutError("Timeout waiting for map renderer to be ready")
+
 
 def get_image(lib, renderer):
   buf = lib.map_renderer_get_image(renderer)