Google’s Android Auto experience is bidding goodbye to smartphone screens. The experience which was first announced back in 2015, will be moving exclusively to car screens in the near future. This news comes after Google released Android Auto for phone screens in 2019 as a stop guard measure as the platform matured for the in-car infotainment systems.
It looks like that stop guard measure is now being replaced by Google Assistant’s driving mode. You would have realised that Google Assistant tends to notify you when it detects you driving or when you say “Hey Google, I’m driving”. The new driving mode isn’t a full-fledged Android Auto replacement, but it does provide easy access to all the apps you will need while driving.
While it does seem like a sudden move to remove Android Auto for Phone screens, it’s not as sudden as you might think. Google has been slowly removing support for Android Auto for phone screens since 2019. In its latest update, support for the app was reduced to only devices with Android 12 and above. Keep in mind, that the app for Phone Screens is already a whole generation behind Android Auto itself at this point.
Google Assistant’s Driving Mode has been in the works for a while now. It was only rolled out last year after extended delays. Moving forward, it seems like Google will be putting more emphasis on Driving Mode for phones and keeping Android Auto exclusively on Car infotainment systems.
Google Assistant’s Driving mode is available for Android smartphones running Android 9.0 or higher with a minimum of 4GB of RAM. According to Google’s own support page, the feature is available in selected regions only including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. However, we’ve been using it for the past month in Malaysia. So, it might need to be updated.
.Did you use Android Auto for smartphones? Are you using Google Assistant’s Driving Mode? Let us know in the comments.
