Android Auto gets a major Google Maps update, but it divides opinions

If you have an Android phone and a recent car, then there’s a good chance you use Android Auto, either by plugging your phone in, or on recent models, via Bluetooth. But, Google does like to tinker with it, and this recent update is causing some disquiet.

According to reports on Reddit (via Android Authority), a recent update has changed the alignment in Google Maps, meaning that the search box obstructs the view of the road that you’re driving along. When you’re navigating, this doesn’t happen, but if you don’t input a destination, then it obstructs your view.

Previously, the road you were driving on was over to the right of the display, so the search box didn’t obscure it, but it seems like Android Auto version 13.6 might have introduced this little quirk. Anyone who drives without a destination entered will now find that they can’t actually see the road they are on.

While this might suggest you know where you’re going, anyone glancing at the map looking for a road name because they can’t remember exactly where it is, looking to get a preview of an approaching junction, or looking for a POI on the map probably won’t be able to see it.

While Android Auto doesn’t get huge updates, Google seems to like these small UI tweaks. In recent times we’ve seen the introduction of incident reports for example, but significant updates seem few and far between.

For much of the last year, Android users were looking forward to changes to Android Auto that would allow the system to use a car’s hardware for its music, rather than streaming everything.

Access to a car’s FM radio in the Android Auto interface, or to a USB device plugged into the car, would make it much easier to control those devices without constantly switching from Android Auto back to the car’s own software.

While we wait for bigger changes to come to Android Auto, we’ll have to make do with these troublesome tweaks to the user interface. Fortunately, that update hasn’t yet arrived on my Pixel in the UK, so perhaps this is a limited roll-out.