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Google is shutting down its Android Auto mobile app in favor of Google Assistant

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Re: Google is shutting down its Android Auto mobile app in favor of Google Assistant

#31

Post by alistairSH »

karolist wrote: post #8
francis-io wrote: post #3

My expirence with Android Auto in my Skoda Fabia 2019 is patchy already. The connection stopped working in the past year for a few months, now it only connects to my in car screen partly, and spotify wont load. I love the idea of keeping in-car entertainment on my mobile, so I can get updates. In practice, my car will get left behind eventually and I'll be stuck with a dumb screen in my dashboard.

Does your car support wireless Android Auto? If not, try switching to a different cable. The push to wireless is because people are having all sorts of problems with patchy cables and then blame it on Android/phone/Google. Too bad only very recent cars support it. Mine does, it works great.

Does wireless Android Auto require a wifi unit inside the HU (wireless Apple CarPlay does)? This seems to be one of the main blockers to adoption by OEMs. AFAIK, in the US, only BMW has implemented wireless CarPlay/AndroidAuto across most of it's lineup.

Edit - also, 100% agree on the cable. From my experience, if a cable is at all worn, it stops working in the car, even if it works just fine for charging or data transfer in the home.

Re: Google is shutting down its Android Auto mobile app in favor of Google Assistant

#32

Post by wingspar »

MrGilbert wrote: post #2

That's... well. Sometimes, timing is bad. I own a 2010 Mazda 6, which comes with bluetooth, but has no display whatsoever. I installed a custom head unit with Apple Car Play. Unfortunately, this head unit became unresponsive every once in a while, and only restarting the car would help. That annoyed the hell out of me. So I went back to the stock experience (it's BOSE after all), and tried to playback audio over blue…

I haven't ordered it yet, but found this 'portable' CarPlay device interesting. I uses wired CarPlay, but I'm ok with that. https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/01/26/review-car-and-dr...

Re: Google is shutting down its Android Auto mobile app in favor of Google Assistant

#33

Post by gangstead »

jfoster wrote: post #17
Someone1234 wrote: post #5

Just in case some people are confused: There are two different things with the same name - - Android Auto vehicle communication technology that mirrors your phone's screen to a vehicle's head unit. - Android Auto phone app that displays the same interface on your phone's screen like a normal app (e.g. mount your phone up high and use directly, or use some other screen mirroring technology to send it to the head unit)…

The fact that the situation exists where Google has two products that do the same thing and one of them has the same name as another of their products that does something different is just bad news overall. It's great that this specific instance will be resolved soon but are Google, as an organisation, learning any broader lessons at all?

At least these are two similar "driving mode android app" products.

I feel like Microsoft is a worse offender at this. As soon as they get some traction with one product they start overloading the name. Think of all the unrelated products crammed together under the umbrellas: ".*365", "Visual Studio .*", "Surface .*"

Re: Google is shutting down its Android Auto mobile app in favor of Google Assistant

#34

Post by pepelotas »

karolist wrote: post #8
francis-io wrote: post #3

My expirence with Android Auto in my Skoda Fabia 2019 is patchy already. The connection stopped working in the past year for a few months, now it only connects to my in car screen partly, and spotify wont load. I love the idea of keeping in-car entertainment on my mobile, so I can get updates. In practice, my car will get left behind eventually and I'll be stuck with a dumb screen in my dashboard.

Does your car support wireless Android Auto? If not, try switching to a different cable. The push to wireless is because people are having all sorts of problems with patchy cables and then blame it on Android/phone/Google. Too bad only very recent cars support it. Mine does, it works great.

Phone support is a bigger problem from my experience. Exact same setup in my car works flawlessly with some phone models and has any number of issues with others.

Re: Google is shutting down its Android Auto mobile app in favor of Google Assistant

#35

Post by sc00ty »

stronglikedan wrote: post #26
Someone1234 wrote: post #5

Just in case some people are confused: There are two different things with the same name - - Android Auto vehicle communication technology that mirrors your phone's screen to a vehicle's head unit. - Android Auto phone app that displays the same interface on your phone's screen like a normal app (e.g. mount your phone up high and use directly, or use some other screen mirroring technology to send it to the head unit)…

I'd rather the first be discontinued, since I've never been able to get it to work properly. I've since got a gooseneck phone holder that holds my phone up over my car's AA screen, and use the second instead. Oh well, I suppose I'm not shocked by this decision.

What make/model car do you have and what doesn't work properly? I ask because I've never really encountered an issue with it other than the Waze UI suddenly disappearing.

Re: Google is shutting down its Android Auto mobile app in favor of Google Assistant

#36

Post by fouric »

This is the third time in the past few months that avoiding updates to Google apps on my Android phone has saved or would save me grief (with the first two times being an update to the dialer that would have broke my voicemail, and an update to another product that would have required that I agree to hand over more of my data), and with every incident, I just feel more vindicated.

Re: Google is shutting down its Android Auto mobile app in favor of Google Assistant

#37

Post by technothrasher »

sc00ty wrote: post #35
stronglikedan wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd rather the first be discontinued, since I've never been able to get it to work properly. I've since got a gooseneck phone holder that holds my phone up over my car's AA screen, and use the second instead. Oh well, I suppose I'm not shocked by this decision.

What make/model car do you have and what doesn't work properly? I ask because I've never really encountered an issue with it other than the Waze UI suddenly disappearing.

I've used it in various cars (Ford Fusion, VW Tiguan, Audi Q5, Nissan Rogue) and it seems to have different issues with each car. On one the screen locks up, on another the volume doesn't work right, on a third the voice commands don't always work. I'm sure it's a nightmare for Google trying to make it work right with all the different automotive head units out there.

Re: Google is shutting down its Android Auto mobile app in favor of Google Assistant

#38

Post by chrisjc »

pbronez wrote: post #24
Someone1234 wrote: post #5

Just in case some people are confused: There are two different things with the same name - - Android Auto vehicle communication technology that mirrors your phone's screen to a vehicle's head unit. - Android Auto phone app that displays the same interface on your phone's screen like a normal app (e.g. mount your phone up high and use directly, or use some other screen mirroring technology to send it to the head unit)…

and then there's "Android Automotive" which is installed directly on the car by the OEM. Honestly the branding is just terrible.

This is what I thought it alluded to... I thought there was an "Android Automotive" phone app to support in-car "Android Automotive" system to unlock doors, remotely control AC, etc... I was thinking "oh no" looks like Android Automotive was short lived. Polestar owners are going to be pissed.

Google is just soooo bad at names and branding.

At this point in time I have no idea what the current TV platform is called (google TV, android TV, chrome TV), and to be honest I don't really care since I've lost interest in trying to follow...

Re: Google is shutting down its Android Auto mobile app in favor of Google Assistant

#40

Post by izacus »

alistairSH wrote: post #31
karolist wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does your car support wireless Android Auto? If not, try switching to a different cable. The push to wireless is because people are having all sorts of problems with patchy cables and then blame it on Android/phone/Google. Too bad only very recent cars support it. Mine does, it works great.

Does wireless Android Auto require a wifi unit inside the HU (wireless Apple CarPlay does)? This seems to be one of the main blockers to adoption by OEMs. AFAIK, in the US, only BMW has implemented wireless CarPlay/AndroidAuto across most of it's lineup. Edit - also, 100% agree on the cable. From my experience, if a cable is at all worn, it stops working in the car, even if it works just fine for charging or data tra…

Yes, of course it needs WiFi. Bluetooth doesn't have the bandwidth to carry the video stream.
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