Android Auto soon to be discontinued?

[arbjosh]

Have any of you heard about this? What does that mean for us AA users? Mine has been getting buggy lately and freezes my head unit after about 15 minutes.

Sponsored

 

[JoeDirt]

Google's statement :

"Google Assistant driving mode is our next evolution of the mobile driving experience. For the people who use Android Auto in supported vehicles, that experience isn’t going away. For those who use the on phone experience (Android Auto mobile app), they will be transitioned to Google Assistant driving mode. Starting with Android 12, Google Assistant driving mode will be the built-in mobile driving experience. We have no further details to share at this time."

On screen in car isn't going anywhere. Just the on phone mode.

I have had zero issues with AA using my Oneplus 8 on Android 11.

 

[SILK]

I'm not 100% certain how AA/CarPlay are coded into our Sync systems, but I know that CarPlay can be updated via an iOS update, AND a Sync update. There are some possible updates on each side. This might mean that eventually, the new driving assistant/AA will just show up on the truck after a phone update. It also means that you might have to update the phone AND Sync.

I don't think you're SOL @arbjosh. At minimum it will operate as it has been. But I'm pretty sure it's possible to update to the new Google driving assistant at some point.

 

[D Fresh]

Google's statement :

"Google Assistant driving mode is our next evolution of the mobile driving experience. For the people who use Android Auto in supported vehicles, that experience isn’t going away. For those who use the on phone experience (Android Auto mobile app), they will be transitioned to Google Assistant driving mode. Starting with Android 12, Google Assistant driving mode will be the built-in mobile driving experience. We have no further details to share at this time."

On screen in car isn't going anywhere. Just the on phone mode.

I have had zero issues with AA using my Oneplus 8 on Android 11.

As Joe Dirt said this won't effect connected car users.

However people who use it from the handset, as I do in my milk truck will apparently lose it.

I've used the newer Google maps versions that have the Pandora/Google assistant interface at the bottom of the screen. It's alright. But I like having a map up when not actively navigating. Hopefully I can continue to do that.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Typical for Google. Get everyone on one system then kill it for something else that does the same thing but is just different enough that causes headaches for users. Hopefully Ford will release an update to Sync 3 and add support for it. I may just start using my work iPhone and Car Play if they don't.

 

[Jacob]

Yeah google has been doing this for as long as I can remember. Remember google voice, google+, google music, google wallet? The list goes on.

I think they do it so they can write all new terms of use or something. I know there has to be a meaning to the madness for sure

 

[D Fresh]

Again. This is not to effect connected vehicle users, like us.

It is only for handset users.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Again. This is not to effect connected vehicle users, like us.

It is only for handset users.

We shall see.

Well, for those of us who have devices that will get the Android 12 update that is.

 

[D Fresh]

We shall see.

Well, for those of us who have devices that will get the Android 12 update that is.

I'm confident that it will not effect connected auto users.

Android Auto for handsets has been being decontented and integrated into other Google interfaces for years. Starting back on Android 9, this is just another step in that direction. They haven't messed with connected autos yet, and I don't see why they would.

If you use a handset independently for Google Maps you can already see where they're going with it. They've begun integrating Pandora and phone interfaces into the Maps GUI.

I totally get the fear that they'll muck it up though. Developers are constantly "updating" stuff for no apparent reason to us. Just to ruin perfectly good features.

 

[D Fresh]

Yeah google has been doing this for as long as I can remember. Remember google voice, google+, google music, google wallet? The list goes on.

I think they do it so they can write all new terms of use or something. I know there has to be a meaning to the madness for sure

It's not just Google. It's all the tech companies. You have entire teams of people pushing "updates" for no other reason other than to "update" it and justify their job.

A thoughtful tech company would put hard limits on their updates to force themselves to be more deliberate in what they're doing.

 

[MountainGoat]

Google's statement :

"Google Assistant driving mode is our next evolution of the mobile driving experience. For the people who use Android Auto in supported vehicles, that experience isn’t going away. For those who use the on phone experience (Android Auto mobile app), they will be transitioned to Google Assistant driving mode. Starting with Android 12, Google Assistant driving mode will be the built-in mobile driving experience. We have no further details to share at this time."

On screen in car isn't going anywhere. Just the on phone mode.

I have had zero issues with AA using my Oneplus 8 on Android 11.

I don't want to transition thank you.

It there an open source/F-droid version? I've ditched google in every way except AAuto and Waze.

 

[JoeDirt]

I don't want to transition thank you.

It there an open source/F-droid version? I've ditched google in every way except AAuto and Waze.

This is what's going away. Based on the reviews it sounds like hot garbage that needs to be replaced.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.projection.gearhead.phonescreen

If you don't use that app then you won't notice any changes.

 

[D Fresh]

This is what's going away. Based on the reviews it sounds like hot garbage that needs to be replaced.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.projection.gearhead.phonescreen

If you don't use that app then you won't notice any changes.

Exactly.

99% of people won't notice.

But the app is not hot garbage.

Pretty useful on older tech vehicles. I run it on the milktruck when I'm running route. Nice moving map so you can keep a bird's eye view of where you're at, Pandoa and Spotify integrated, ability to voice navigate without having to touch the screen, which helps when wearing Kevlar gloves.

It's already fairly integrated into Google Assistant, moving it fully over there might work out ok.OK.

Most of those poor reviews look to be people confusing it with connected autos.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

This is what's going away. Based on the reviews it sounds like hot garbage that needs to be replaced.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.projection.gearhead.phonescreen

If you don't use that app then you won't notice any changes.

This is the app that runs on Android phones by default when you connect it to a car that supports it. AA used to work great. Never had a problem with it at least until the last couple of updates Google has released. These all have been extremely buggy. I tried removing the AA updates on my S20 to revert to an older version but it forces me to update AA when I reconnect my phone to the truck. One gets the notion that Google intentionally released a buggy mess of an update to get people to happily switch to Assisted Driving Mode. The problem is we'll still be stuck with the bug ridden crap version of AA.

Now AA does behave much better on a system with sync 4 compared to Sync 3.4. Not sure if there are also related conflicts with the current version of Sync 3.4 and AA but it wouldn't surprise me.

 

[MountainGoat]

This is what's going away. Based on the reviews it sounds like hot garbage that needs to be replaced.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.projection.gearhead.phonescreen

If you don't use that app then you won't notice any changes.

Yeah I understand. I just wondered if there was any input on alternatives to AAuto...or the non-existence of. Mine doesn't even let me add other nav apps to the launcher.

Sponsored