Assistant Driving Mode ditches Google Maps integration, no longer an Android Auto replacement - 9to5Google

In May of 2019, Google Assistant Driving Mode was announced to replace “Android Auto for Phone Screens.” The launch occurred slowly, with the previous experience not going away until this June.

Assistant Driving Mode is now losing Google Maps integration and this noticeably changes the experience to the point where it’s no longer an Android Auto replacement. .

In the meantime, Google released “Android Auto for Phone Screens” as a stopgap measure, as the formal Android Auto experience (on cars) had been redesigned and was no longer suitable for phone displays.

Google went on to shut down Android Auto for Phone Screens for everyone in June 2022.

If you launch Driving Mode today and enter a location in the search field, Google Maps opens.

This floating window makes for a pretty bad user experience, though Google presumably doesn’t want you to access the PiP and Driving Mode at the same time.

With this change, Driving Mode is no longer a real Android Auto alternative.

This comes as Driving Mode was generally perceived as a downgrade compared to Android Auto

L: Android Auto | R: Driving-optimized UI in Google Maps

Assistant Driving Mode ditches Google Maps integration