In February of 2024, Google Assistant Driving Mode was pared back to basically be a voice bar, but in recent days it has disappeared entirely from Google Maps on Android.
Launching Google Maps driving directions on Android, no longer shows a black bar at the bottom of the screen. Previously, you could quickly launch Google Assistant and have messages read aloud while driving. You’d also be notified about incoming calls.
Controlling media was the other big aspect of Driving Mode. The current audio app was noted at the center of the bar, with a tap sliding up song name and artist. You could play/pause and skip to the next track.
This is currently missing on the latest stable versions of the Google app (16.14) and Maps (25.16.x). We’ve reached out to Google on whether this is a bug, or a planned removal.
When Google was deprecating Assistant features last year, Driving Mode lost its App Launcher that allowed users to access Google Maps, Waze, YouTube Music, Play Books, and Podcasts, as well as third-party experiences from Spotify, Pandora, Telegram, and more.
Even with those capabilities removed, Driving Mode was still useful for notifications and media playback controls. Google removing the bar entirely — as Assistant is fully replaced by Gemini on phones this year — without offering a replacement is disruptive for people that use their Android device to navigate in the car.
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