With Android Auto, switching between vehicles doesn’t need you to learn a new user interface or fiddle with the settings to access your critical infotainment features. It seamlessly interfaces with a variety of in-car head units and enables you to use your preferred media apps and navigation programmes while operating a vehicle. The greatest Android phones are compatible and don’t need additional software, so overall it’s a terrific experience. In order to assist you while driving and give suggestions to make your trip more comfortable and help you maintain your eyes on the road, Android Auto also natively connects with Google Assistant.
My frustration with Android Auto and Google Maps, which frequently force me to use my phone in my hand or the usually subpar infotainment system in my car, isn’t helpful for safety. This is just one of my little quibbles with Android Auto. Even if this is just my perspective, I don’t want to disparage Google’s safety strategy. However, the business has restricted access to a few features that are easier to use on a standard Android phone or the in-car system. Why not expand some of the current Android capabilities rather than limiting them when there are driving mode companion applications to assist you in using your phone safely while driving?
While driving, we must all glance at the screen, whether it is the dash to check our speed or the head unit to navigate. It should be okay to make some of the following functions more usable on a ride as long as we’re not staring at and tinkering with the screen the entire time.
Check out our list of compatible autos with untethered infotainment if you’re unsure if Android Auto is compatible with your ride.
Planning an itinerary
Google Maps works really well on Android Auto if you know where you’re going and don’t need to review your route. Despite doing it brilliantly on a phone, it’s particularly awful at giving you a general overview of the possibilities you might want to explore. The options can still be reviewed, but doing so requires an additional tap while driving rather than displaying them before the guidance begins.
Even worse, things become more difficult if you intend to include a stop, whether to eat, refuel, or pause at a certain location. Planning a pit stop is an illustration of this. While using the Search along route feature on your phone makes it simple, Android Auto’s interface is poorly designed. It displays locations nearby but not necessarily on your route rather than places along your route. Additionally, it just lists a few options on the left and doesn’t display all of them. Additionally, there is no option to scroll or browse the map to find the location you wish to stop at. Even worse, you cannot tap a dot to move to it.
This design choice was designed to prevent drivers from staring at their displays for too long, but it frequently leads to drivers looking away from the road for much longer than necessary to choose where to go.
More annoyingly, there is no method for the driver to ask a passenger for assistance while using Android Auto because there is no way to access Google Maps on the connected phone. This is absurd, especially given that utilising CarPlay on an iPhone does not impose any limitations on this. This would have been a terrific method to give your phone to a nearby friend so they could safely do some planning and add the next trip to the itinerary displayed on the main screen of the automobile.
Entering an address
It is obvious that you shouldn’t send or receive text messages while operating a motor vehicle, let alone on the screen of the vehicle. However, even when you’re driving, the majority of cars allow you to type in an address or look up a POI. It’s crucial to maintain your attention on the road and to simply type a few letters when necessary. Android Auto does not, however, permit such while driving. Instead, it instructs you to either engage the parking brake or shift into park in order to write text.
Comparable to how Apple’s CarPlay platform handles text input, it would make more sense to monitor your speed and allow you to type an address when stopped at a traffic signal without putting you through so much bother. I occasionally unplug my phone, type what I need to find, then plug it back in even though it isn’t as secure.
Things with Android Auto 3 shouldn’t be this difficult, especially while driving. Although it’s understandable that Google would want to keep them secure, it need to use common sense when recommending the appropriate location after typing a few letters.
One would contend that because Google’s speech recognition technology is so good, entering an address should not be necessary. This doesn’t work in some locations, particularly when it comes to difficult-to-understand areas of attraction or intricate street names, especially outside of the United States.
Music and podcasts
The general user experience is positive whether you use Spotify or YouTube Music, especially if you listen to playlists or recommendations. However, when you ask Google Assistant to play a certain music, things get more challenging because it knows what you want to hear. Fair enough, it frequently gets the track right. But what if you want a live or acoustic version?
To ensure that you listen to the song you desire, a list with three to five selections should appear. Even worse, it becomes nearly impossible to discover the particular episode you’re looking for if you’re searching for a specific podcast in a series. When compared to all the options available to you on a modern car’s infotainment system, even while you’re driving, it’s difficult to claim that this would constitute a safety danger.
Messaging
While Google frequently makes improvements to how communications are handled on Android Auto, the system isn’t flawless. First, you can only ask Google to read the message aloud; you cannot read the complete message on the screen in your car. I’m amazed at how it was able to understand that someone wrote to me in French, saying “Message from [Sender],” before reading it to me in French and brilliantly transitioning to English to ask whether I wanted to react.
To make information like names, addresses, and codes easier to understand, it might also briefly display the message on the screen. It currently just displays a brief sample of the first few words. This is common in many cars, including for SMS and email. Therefore, why not Android Auto?
Even after getting the warning, there is a menu option to ask Google Assistant to read your texts aloud. However, the list is still just comprised of those that you have acquired recently. This restriction is unnecessary given how simple it is to retrieve all of your phone’s chats. Instead of reading the message afterwards, the driver will probably peek at it on the phone while driving, providing a greater risk to safety.
However, it’s not entirely Google’s responsibility, and what’s particularly absurd is how WhatsApp handles audio communications. Since you can record your voice to respond to incoming messages and listen to recordings through the car’s speakers, they’re perhaps the most practical method of communication available while driving. However, Android Auto does not allow for this, so in order to send or listen to a message, you must use your phone, which is dangerous and inefficient. While Google can be used to send messages using dictation, sometimes it misunderstands what you say and delivers things that weren’t intended. Instead, it may capture a portion of your voice that you could then communicate using RCS or WhatsApp.
Check out our list of the top Android Auto applications to use while driving if you’re seeking for apps that work with Android Auto.
Location sharing
I really enjoy Google Maps’ feature that lets me share my position and travel plans. This enables you to share both your present location and your ETA, which is updated dynamically based on traffic conditions. Even though Android Auto allows you to do this, you can only share your trip with people who have Google Maps. Sending a text or WhatsApp message to any contact listed in your address book would have been more practical.
Although the feature is present, it has not been effectively integrated to be useful when driving. Additionally, using Android Auto prevents Maps from opening on the phone, so you can’t do it yourself or ask a passenger to do it for you.
Incident reporting
Similar to Waze, users of Google Maps can report traffic issues like collisions, delays, lane closures, and speed traps. Since Android Auto doesn’t support the feature, you can do this while using your phone. Even worse, while your phone is connected to Android Auto, you can’t even reach for it to use Maps.
Reporting these situations in real time while driving is the only way to alert other road users to potential dangers. Even more confusing is the fact that Waze provides this feature via Android Auto yet Maps does not. It appears as though Google discourages users from sharing their insights.
Phone temperature with wireless Android Auto
Android phones can grow warm when used wirelessly with an Android Auto head unit, though this isn’t a huge concern. Additionally, using them is somewhat sluggish and slow. My phone is plugged in rather than being used wirelessly because they quickly lose a lot of battery life. When utilising wireless Android Auto and your car’s wireless charger simultaneously, things get really heated because the phone won’t charge because of the extreme heat.
When linked to a car’s infotainment system, an iPhone doesn’t seem to get as warm and sluggish as Apple’s CarPlay does.
It’s a love-hate relationship
Don’t misunderstand me. Android Auto is great, at least most of the time. I no longer have to look up an address, which has been a lifesaver when renting a car and figuring out how to get to a given spot. Additionally, it’s really handy to connect with some of my favourite apps while listening to music or podcasts during a daily commute.
However, there are moments when it aggravates me to the point where I wish I had a stupid automobile mount. The main complaint is that the system restricts what a user may do on their car’s screen, even if this sometimes makes sense for safety reasons. In some cases, though, this mindset promotes using your phone and disabling Android Auto, which is less secure than allowing someone else to use their vehicle’s head unit.
My argument is that as long as it’s done knowingly, staring at a screen isn’t always harmful. We all use screens while driving to check our speed, acquire directions, and change the radio station. So why limit so many activities when it would be easier to permit minimal interactions and set a timer that forces you to focus on the road after a short while?
The majority of the aforementioned activities, including reading text messages and emails on the screen while driving, are permitted by many auto manufacturers. They and different other people believe it to be safe enough if they permit it. Although it’s admirable that Google prioritises safety, this shouldn’t be used as justification for limiting functions when other built-in systems already permit these actions while driving. Moreover, a lot of people talk on their phones while driving. Isn’t it safer to gaze at the screen in your automobile rather than your phone?
When driving, which is a circumstance when things should be done easily and smoothly for optimal safety, Google should not have severely limited the alternatives and instead should have used a little more common sense.
Google is always trying to improve Android Auto. The addition of additional functions and apps, together with a revamped UI, might make Android Auto even more practical while driving without jeopardising safety.
