Android Auto seems like an after-thought for Google at times. Several times they have updated Google Assistant resulting in breaking some Android Auto functionality. They have now done it again with a recent update preventing Google Assistant from playing any music for the user.
In a recent update to Google Assistant (suspected at this stage anyway) the functionality of Google Assistant in the car (Android Auto) has been effectively broken. Before you could ask your Google Assistant to play a certain song on Google Play Music and it would without any issues.
Now, since the update, asking Google to play music results in a negative result with Assistant expressing itself in various ways. Assistant tells the user, amongst other results, that they don’t understand, they cannot help with that yet, or that they cannot display search results in the car.
The issue was first reported on Reddit where there was quickly a lot of me too’s. Personally I had noticed it not working but thought maybe it was just the myriad of phones I have been testing lately.
OK Google, Play Psychosocial by Slipknot on Google Play Music
Sorry, I can’t display search results in the car
Sorry I don’t understand
Sorry I don’t know how to help with that
The issue has since appeared on Google Forums on the Android Auto User Community where once again many other users have piped up saying they had the same issue. It seems to occur on all headunits, aftermarket and stock and on all types of phones. One user has said that to fix it the workaround was to disable Google Assistant on their phone — which led to my conclusion that it was Google Assistant causing the issue.
Some people have said that Evil Woman (the song) works for them but I was unable to get it to work for me. Some have reported the issue occurs with Spotify as well as Google Play Music so it seems Google really have broken Assistant for Android Auto — a pity after they made a big deal of it earlier this year. I have also noticed issues trying to get Assistant to send messages via text or Telegram but that has not been widely reported as of yet.
Google are aware of the issue so we expect (and hope) them to release a fix very soon. Has this affected you? What issues have you run into?
The most recent issue I am having is that ‘OK Google’ voice recognition is no longer working. Anyone else?
I may have fixed mine. On the trip to Ulladulla, it wasn’t working, so I stopped Datally. It works now. Go figure.
I have the same issue with music, plus assistant shortcuts have shit the bed too. Navigation requests are spotty, but phone calls and voice messages, both in and out are fine so far.
Now I know I am not the only one!
The other thing that I really hate about AA is that when a message comes through and I press play to listen to it, if music is playing, it will go mute and not read out the message.
It will take a few goes after stopping music for it to start reading messages again.
I had the same issue for a few days but it seems to be working this morning.
If only my Android auto would stay connected in my car long enough for this to be an issue..! Brand new Ford everest and it just kicks out after only about 2 minutes… And that’s IF it decides to start in the first place! DEFINITELY and afterthought whole piece of software!
Yep, broken for me too. Until this update, I was very happy with Android Auto’s ability to play Google Music with my voice commands. Nothing works for me now, with the Assistant expressing all forms of lack of understand. I really hope they fix this fast, as my kids are used to getting immediate action from me when they request a song from the back seat!
Good to know it’s not just me or something dumb I’d done. It worked perfectly for about 3 days. And then it didn’t. Infuriating.
I deleted Google music and now voice command works again for Spotify. Started a few day’s ago and drove me nuts as well. I only use Spotify and never Google music so it won’t be missed.
I have major issues doing voice navigation commands within android itself. Ever since I updated my Pixel 2 XL to Pie I can no longer say “Navigate to ” in any context because now assistant is entirely global. Used to be the assistant you called within map’s was dumbed down but really good at navigation stuff… No longer. I even had it pull some shenanigans useing the raw speech to text input into the search box in the map’s app…. It was seriously playing dumb.
At least your Google andriod auto is working. Ever since I updated my Pixel 2 I can’t even get andriod auto working
Good to see this article, noticed it 2 days ago and thought it was only my setup. Calls, navigation, messages, etc still ok for me.
I’ve found lately that activating Google assistant through Android auto kind of launches, but then the radio keeps playing underneath and Google assistant doesn’t function. I’m a Google person coming up for phone renewal I’m strongly considering bailing to the sheep side. I’d be interested to know if iPhone users have the same constant battles with stability and features…
This isn’t just effecting voice requested music for me. All of my audio apps (Pocketcast, TuneIn, ABC Listen) are currently working. In fact since update Android Auto is very buggy, launching then crashing immediately a lot of the time. Just about managed to get Google Maps working today.
I agree with Piers, I often have appointments that I drive between and I should be able to navigate to the next appointment just by name instead of the 2 questions, especially since I have the addresses in my Google calendar! As for music, I’ve been able to ask for Spotify music, but yeah, I’ve had that issue with Google Play Music.
I’ve had the exact same issue. Used to work perfectly but now won’t play specific songs or playlists. Voice commands for navigation still work fine though. Pretty frustrating but will try disabling Assistant to see if that helps. Hopefully a proper fix comes around soon.
This drives me nuts. The two things I most use from Android Auto are: 1) The ability to play a song, playlist or artist using voice command. 2) Navigation to a known location using only voice. The first has been broken for a while now, although a generic command like “play music” usually works, if I don’t care what it selects for me. The second works if I know the address and speak it, but more often than not, I don’t. I am driving to my friend’s house, I know his name and his address is in my contacts list.… Read more »
I had an issue a few weeks back where Google Assistant would answer any request except calling someone, saying it didn’t know how to do that yet. Even though it had been working fine for the previous 10 months since I bought the car. Had to delete the app, reboot the phone and reinstall AA to get it working again and has been flawless ever since
I had the same issue, it resolved itself after a few days though.