Is Android Auto a Big Mess? Can't Send Texts. Unstable. Bugs. Poor Design.

[consultant1027]

Just picked up a 2019 Mazda with Android Auto. LG V30 running Android 8.0. I have all sorts of weird things happens indicating this app is NOT stable. I'm wondering who I go to, to try to work out the problems, Google or Mazda? (I doubt Mazda can do anything.)

I've been a Software Developer for over 20 years and my opinion thus far is Android Auto is both unstable and poorly thought out.

Geez, I could build a list a mile long but here's some major things off the top of my head...

- When replying to a text message, I get as far as AA reading my reply and asking me if I want to send, which I confirm, and then it says "Ha. Something went wrong." If I then ask "What went wrong?" AA Says there was a server error but I've fixed it now. No, you haven't, because it keeps doing it.

- The command "OK Google... Send text message to {insert contact name}" responds with "I don't know how to do that." Are you kidding me? I can do that on my phone when not using AA.

- The command "read last text message" AA responds it can't do that either.

- The command "read last notification" can't do it.

There are pretty basic necessities when driving. I'm sure Google has some explanation like "apps aren't allowed to access {some data} for security purposes." But in reality, at the end of the day, the software engineer's goals should be centered around making user functionality as useful as possible and easy to use. Looks like thus far, they've really missed the mark.

The funny (but sad) thing is, the Mazda salesman said the Apple Car Play worked better, but didn't warn me about the issues I was going to have with Android Auto. I can see why he said Apple was better. But Google is such a small company with so little resources, I can therefore understand why Android Auto is subpar (NOT.)

 

[hallux]

- When replying to a text message, I get as far as AA reading my reply and asking me if I want to send, which I confirm, and then it says "Ha. Something went wrong." If I then ask "What went wrong?" AA Says there was a server error but I've fixed it now. No, you haven't, because it keeps doing it.

- The command "OK Google... Send text message to {insert contact name}" responds with "I don't know how to do that." Are you kidding me? I can do that on my phone when not using AA.

Both of these work fine for me. I don't have a car radio with AA, I just use the phone in a cradle with a Bluetooth adapter plugged into the AUX-IN on my radio. I have a Pixel 2 XL on Pie also...

 

[consultant1027]

Both of these work fine for me. I don't have a car radio with AA, I just use the phone in a cradle with a Bluetooth adapter plugged into the AUX-IN on my radio. I have a Pixel 2 XL on Pie also...

Both work fine for me too if I use bluetooth. As in that case, you are just streaming the audio and solely using the Google O/S. My question is regarding the Android Auto App which interfaces the phone to the in-car dash display so you see Google Maps on the car dash display, not just the phone display. And you see other things like Google Play on the car dash display where you can thumb up and down music using the steering controls and navigate other features without touching or looking at the phone.

 

[consultant1027]

Wait a sec... I'm talking about issuing these commands with Google Assistant not Android Auto which I think I mistakenly assumed you were using. I forgot you can use Android Auto without it being connected to the car except for bluetooth (or Aux) for the audio. I think though if you have an Android Auto car, it uses the car hands free mic to listen for commands instead of the phone mic but that shouldn't make a difference for the issues I'm seeing. There are so many different Android phones running so many different versions of Android this is the challenge with Android.

What phone and Android version are you running?

 

[hallux]

@consultant1027 - Pixel 2 XL on Pie

 

[methodman89]

Try using it in the car as a standalone to isolate where the problem is residing. In the meantime, I'm sure you've forgotten the vehicle from the phone and vice versa to begin with then re-paired them with the exact result?