All you'll need is your Android phone and a dashboard dock
Google already has a platform called Android Auto that lives inside your car’s infotainment system – but what if you don’t have it, and you don’t want to buy a new car? You could try something like the Roav Bolt, but that doesn’t have a screen. So Google’s announcing Assistant Driving Mode, a new way to get Assistant into your car – and all you’ll need is your phone.
The new mode creates a new dashboard for your phone, putting navigation, messages, calling and music front and center. However, the dashboard works on recommendations, suggest some of your popular routes. Or, say you have an upcoming dinner reservation in your calendar, it’ll suggest setting a route there.
Guide: Android Auto – everything you need to know
It’ll also suggest diving back into a recent podcast, picking up where you left off. But the Assistant will also be listening out for your commands, so you could ask it to “play some classic rock” or whatever you’re in the mood for.
What’s great about the new mode is how it lays all of this information out: music playback controls will appear in a dock at the bottom, keeping the map front and center. Should you get a phone call during your drive, you’ll see it pop up in this bottom dock too, and you can ask Google to answer or reject the call.
To launch the new mode, you’ll just need to say, “Hey Google, let’s drive” and stick your phone in a dock on your car’s dashboard. The new mode will arrive on Android phones later this year.
