Driving mode in Google Assistant begins rolling out on Android phones

The Driving Mode on Google Assistant that would use a voice prompt to bring up a dashboard with driving-relevant activities and other personalised recommendations has started appearing on some Android devices.

XDA Developers reported that the Google Assistant Driving Mode, announced at the Google I/O 2019 conference, is finally seems to be rolling out.

The new feature is supposed to serve as a replacement for the Android Auto app on smartphones.

Some users started to see a new navigation user interface (UI) in Google Maps.

The "Google Assistant settings" item in the "Navigation settings" of Google Maps has been updated with the description "manage driving mode."

Previously, the description for this item said "Google Assistant settings", and tapping this item merely opened the general settings page for Google Assistant.

Now, tapping this item opens up a new driving mode settings page for Google Assistant.

Google in 2019 announced to roll out a voice-enabled driving mode on Assistant that would not only personalise suggestions for navigation, messages, calling and media, but also bring all relevant activities front and centre.

Driving mode would launch on Assistant once the user connects their phone to the car's Bluetooth.

If the user's phone is not connected to the car, they could just say, "Hey Google, let's drive".

In addition to driving mode, Google also announced to make it possible to use Assistant to remotely control cars -- like users could ask Google to adjust the car's temperature before the driver gets in.

--IANS

na/