Now you can keep the focus on navigating while more easily answering calls and messages, without leaving Google Maps, reveled Google in a tweet on January 11. This new feature is to help reduce the risk of distracted driving’ the introduction said.
News has been going on since last year but in November 2020 Google announced an early, basically a trial, preview of Assistant Driving Mode in the United States, that many users are yet to receive. The important news is that it will only be available on Android phones running Android 9 or with at least 4GB RAM. It is somewhat a fusion of Android Auto, Google Maps, and Google Assistant which was first spotted back in October, in the Google Maps trial. But the user interface seems to be different from what Google showed at its I/O developer’s conference last year.
Let us see how this app is different from the previous ones;
The method of navigation is not much changed from Google Maps, aside from the addition of a new bottom bar, a navigation shortcut, a simplified interface, and voice commands. There is a microphone at the left side, your last-used app at the center, which is mostly Maps or an audio application, and a launcher appears at the right. This means the users can play multiple apps at a time while driving and not have to switch from one app to other apps. You can make calls, accept or reject them using the voice command feature, send and receive messages and have them read out by Google Driving Assistant and play music with Spotify, Google Podcasts, and YouTube Music, but the users have to speak in English to use the app.
Android users in the US can launch this app on their phones if they have Google Assistant, Google Maps, and Android 9 phones, via the Google Assistant settings > getting around > driving mode. You can start it either by saying “Hey Google, launch driving mode” or you can tap “Start” when viewing a destination in Google maps.
Now is high time you all throw away your old GPS devices and start using smart phone apps to get a safe and sound journey along with an experienced navigator.
Read next: Google Chrome to Introduce a Weekly Reminder for the Saved Web Pages
News has been going on since last year but in November 2020 Google announced an early, basically a trial, preview of Assistant Driving Mode in the United States, that many users are yet to receive. The important news is that it will only be available on Android phones running Android 9 or with at least 4GB RAM. It is somewhat a fusion of Android Auto, Google Maps, and Google Assistant which was first spotted back in October, in the Google Maps trial. But the user interface seems to be different from what Google showed at its I/O developer’s conference last year.
Let us see how this app is different from the previous ones;
The method of navigation is not much changed from Google Maps, aside from the addition of a new bottom bar, a navigation shortcut, a simplified interface, and voice commands. There is a microphone at the left side, your last-used app at the center, which is mostly Maps or an audio application, and a launcher appears at the right. This means the users can play multiple apps at a time while driving and not have to switch from one app to other apps. You can make calls, accept or reject them using the voice command feature, send and receive messages and have them read out by Google Driving Assistant and play music with Spotify, Google Podcasts, and YouTube Music, but the users have to speak in English to use the app.
Android users in the US can launch this app on their phones if they have Google Assistant, Google Maps, and Android 9 phones, via the Google Assistant settings > getting around > driving mode. You can start it either by saying “Hey Google, launch driving mode” or you can tap “Start” when viewing a destination in Google maps.
Now is high time you all throw away your old GPS devices and start using smart phone apps to get a safe and sound journey along with an experienced navigator.
Read next: Google Chrome to Introduce a Weekly Reminder for the Saved Web Pages
