Killing Off Android Auto for Phones Was a Huge Mistake, Period

Android Auto for phones, however, became incredibly popular, pretty much because it provided users with a car-optimized experience even in vehicles where an Android Auto-compatible head unit wasn’t available.

In other words, you could have Android Auto without an Android Auto receiver, as the mobile device was doing the whole thing for you. And given phones are getting larger and larger, it’s easy to understand why so many people loved this app.

Earlier this year, however, Google decided to kill off Android Auto for phones, saying that its replacement is ready for prime time. The driving mode, originally built into Google Maps but then powered by Google Assistant as a stand-alone experience, is now available for users natively and without the need for installing any other apps.

Android Auto for phones is no more, so Google’s focus is entirely on further polishing and refining the driving mode up to a point where it becomes a more advanced solution than its predecessor.

And yet, the company’s struggle to improve the driving mode shows that when it comes to the death of Android Auto for phones, the whole thing turned to something that tech watchers call “just Google being Google.”

Google killing off products is something that happens every once in a while, and only a few days ago, the company announced that it’s retiring Stadia, the gaming platform it has put so much effort into.

But when it comes to Android Auto for phones, it’s pretty clear the company pulled the plug on its app before even being able to develop a worthy alternative. And more frustrating for users is that this worthy alternative is still nowhere to be seen today.

At the end of the day, not even Google seems to like the new driving mode, as the search behemoth can’t decide on its feature lineup. Evidence discovered recently suggested that Google is giving up on the dashboard, as it may be planning to make driving mode once again a part of Google Maps.

In other words, the feature that was originally offered as a Google Maps feature and which was then moved to Google Assistant is now returning to Google Maps because really why not. All these overnight changes make the experience as confusing as possible for users out there, especially as features come and go with zero focus on consistency.

As compared to the driving mode, Android Auto for phones delivered just the experience drivers needed when getting behind the wheel, and in many ways, this was the essential package of the fully featured Android Auto. The app support, the way users could switch from one app to another, and everything else, all turned Android Auto for phones into just the right choice for most drivers.

The driving mode, on the other hand, comes with a long list of painful limitations, and probably the most annoying concerns the navigation app. You can’t switch to Waze or any other alternatives, and now that it’s being reintegrated into Google Maps, it’s pretty clear that nothing is going to change on this front anytime soon.

Nevertheless, it’s pretty clear that giving up on Android Auto for phones, a piece of software that everybody truly loved, was a huge mistake, and Google has a hard time undoing it.

At some level, the Mountain View-based search giant can really consider itself lucky. Apple isn’t offering a CarPlay version at the phone level, so it can’t lure the army of disappointed Android Auto users.