Google Maps on Android Auto is misbehaving and nobody knows what to do

While the entire world regroups after a long period of isolation through the pandemic, we increasingly rely on our apps to help us reconnect. Google Maps on Android Auto is an ever-improving partnership designed to make it easier for people to get people from A to B – but that doesn’t mean things always run smoothly.

The Google Map app, it seems, is misbehaving once again on Android Auto with the latest issue apparently stemming from how Google Maps shuts down after the smartphone disconnects from some of the best Android Auto head unit setups inside of the car.

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First spotted by several Redditors (via Auto Evolution), puzzled users are claiming that they have to manually close Google Maps on their mobile devices after Android Auto closes down. Usually, Google Maps handles this process automatically, but multiple flustered reports have piled into the Android Auto subreddit noting that it's simply failing to do so. 

To add further insult to injury, several other people report that Google Maps Navigation appears in their notification center even if they didn’t launch it, like some sort of Android specter jeering and taunting at them as they sit by helplessly in their vehicles. Aside from ruffling a few drivers' feathers like when Android Auto and CarPlay broke together before, the glitch has mostly left app users scratching their heads. Vehicle owners must now reportedly manually close Google Maps "even when the app wasn’t launched on Android Auto," says Auto Evolution, which is quick to point out that there's still no known remedy for the bug as of now. 

A serious matter

Google has so far kept schtum on the app conundrum, even though it's not the first time certain drivers have experienced such an issue. One Reddit user calls it a well-known and recurring bug between Android Auto and Google Maps, adding that it soon disappeared for them after some updates before returning again.

All said and done, we've been here before many times before. User problems intermittently affect the platform and the most recent one saw voice commands stop working entirely before getting a fix. Hopefully, it won't be too long before users can stop this from happening or at least a timeline for when Google can step in and ameliorate the problem. Either way, we'll keep you posted when we hear of any progress on Google's side.