This one is really annoying me - with my new Dacia Jogger, I've found that Android Auto always thinks I'm driving, even when parked, with the engine off. The problem with this is some navigation apps completely disable the ability to search for a destination, so I can't progam in a route once I'm connected! Also Gameshack is disabled because AA thinks I'm driving too.
There any way to fix this or stop AA from disabling interactions?
Your headunit has a wire connected to the handbrake sensor in your car, and this way it knows if you're parked and can't restrict some activities. This information is passed from the headunit's firmware to Android Auto internally, and this way Android Auto can restrict or allow you to do some stuff like use the touchpad, use certain buttons, etc.
In order to save money (or due to a bad Android Auto implementation), some headunits don't send handbrake status information to Android Auto. This way you can use the onscreen voice button all the time (in the lower corner of Android Auto) even if the car is moving, but the downside is that some Android Features get broken, like Gamesnacks or alphabetic search in lists. They can do this for a number of reasons, like not having a dedicated voice button in the steering wheel or headunit, but it's not the ideal case.
I suggest you to find other people with the same car model and see if their cars behave in the same way. If so, then this is a headunit problem and the carmaker should release a fix. If this only happens in your car, I would check if there's a wiring issue in the handbrake or something similar is happening.
you might also want to check if there's some settings menu in your headunit with some option to check this.
You can also try to sync a new phone over bluetooth to your car headunit while parked. If it refuses because the car is moving (even if is not) then it could be a wiring issue.
Related
I am wondering that AA is not using the GPS antenna of the car. May car (2016 SEAT/VW) has a built in GPS antenna. I would expect a much better signal from the car antenna on the roof. However AA seems to use the phone GPS antenna.
Is this always the case and part of the Android Auto specifications.? Is this the case with your cars as well?
I did check it as follows:
- Use googke maps in AA
- Deactivate GPS in the phone (press last used button and then home button to get to the settings)
- The Headunit in the car is saying "no GPS" so it's obviously using the phones antenna.
Update: My car doesn't seem to have an integrated GPS antenna. That the reason. However the test may be interesting for somebody with an integrated antenna to proof that it is used.
Strange. The web is telling a different story.
Gizmodo:
"I was told at Google I/O last year that Auto could leverages the car’s GPS antenna which should make it more accurate, and it should help to improve the phone’s battery situation."
Androidpit
8 Android Auto will be able to use in-car hardware
Android Auto runs on your phone, but that doesn’t mean it’s limited to your phone’s hardware. Apps will be able to access the car’s own GPS and GPS antenna (if fitted), steering wheel controls, the sound system, the car’s wheel speed, its compass and any mobile antennas, and there are moves to access car data from the vehicle’s own computer too.
Please see update in first post.
I have a Kenwood DDX9702S and a 2011 Honda CRZ that had nav from the factory. The Kenwood includes a GPS antenna passthrough, so I plugged in my OEM GPS antenna. I can confirm that Android Auto does not activate location services on my phone while using it.
Hello, I'm using Android Auto 3.1.581054 on my Honor 8 smartphone, and the Sync3 v3.0 multimedia system on a Ford Fiesta mk8.
If I don't use AA, i can push the voice activation button on the steering wheel, and dictate commands to access some of the car's functions (for example, change FM radio station).
When i connect my smartphone via USB and enable AA (e.g., to use google maps on the car's screen), the google assistant overtakes the steering wheel voice activation button; I can therefore only use it to dictate Android functions on the phone (maps directions, send whatsapp message, etc). I can't control via voice the car's functions anymore, at least until I disconnect the USB cable, because obviously Android knows and can nothing about the car's FM radio or whatever.
This is a very unfortunate behaviour, because to change the FM radio channel I now have to fiddle with the car's touch screen controls, that is very distracting while driving.
Is there a way to manage this problem? I heard that, on some previous versions (of what? AA? Sync3?), pushing the steering wheel voice activation button once triggered the car's Sync3 recognition, while pushing it for 3 seconds would trigger the google assistant recognition. Is it true? What happened to this function? E.g., see https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/android-auto/SNCguGKYiZE
Doesn't answer your direct question, but I'm also using a Mk8 Fiesta, and wanted to point out that if you're already on one of Radio audio sources you can use the steering wheel next and previous track buttons to switch between stations within the preset group you're in. I've only tried this on DAB but it probably works on FM as well.
I've also found that sometimes it's possible to select whichever source and station you would like from a list using the steering wheel menu button (provided you're looking at the audio screen on the instrument cluster - not sure if all the trims have this functionality?). This works all the time without Android Auto connected, and sometimes when you're within Android Auto, but not always. I think this might be to do with starting up a radio source before connecting the phone, and making sure not to start any audio playing within Android Auto. Haven't had chance to properly test this yet.
Let me know if you discover any tricks!
I've been posting regularly in Google Android Auto forums, but nothing has been happening. I thought maybe someone here would be of more help.
I use Android Auto (just updated again today, version 4.2.591444-release) on my OnePlus 5 (Android 9, OxygenOS Beta 30) with a Bluetooth FM Transmitter in my car. Same setup as I've had for a while (apart from updates to the OS or the app, of course.)
There are three issues here.
1. The hotword doesn't trigger anything to happen. Sometimes it does right after an uninstall/reinstall, but once and only once and only if it's not connected to my FM transmitter via Bluetooth. I have tried uninstall/reinstall, deleting and retraining my voice model, giving AA every permission it asks for. The hotwords trigger with no problem when it's not in AA mode.
2. AA auto triggers Do Not Disturb mode. This means it doesn't give any audible notification for phone calls/texts/hangouts/weather alerts/job notifications. Doesn't matter what the app is, it doesn't trigger. I only know I'm getting a call if I happen to look at my phone. I can go in and manually turn off DND mode, but I have to touch "turn off" twice every time for it to work.
3. It's set to autolaunch when it connects to my FM transmitter. It often doesn't. It pairs to my transmitter with no problem, but doesn't launch. The AA icon is in my notification shade, but when I pull it down, it's saying that it's launching with the little progress bar. I have to actually launch it myself.
All of these issues are new within the last few months. Before all of this, I'd jump in to take kids to school, my phone would autoconnect to my transmitter, and the kids would proceed to ask Google to play their favorite songs. Awesome. Sometimes I'd get a notification that a job was available (I'm a substitute teacher) and I could accept it. Now...none of this happens.
Any thoughts you all have? I've not seen threads here describing this issue, but in Google's forums, it seems to be happening both with head units and the app, no matter what kind of phone/auto combo it is.
I have the same issues (2 & 3) and I'm pissed
After I upgraded my Nexus 6 to LOS 18.1, I discovered that Android Auto is included in the necessary package MindTheGapps. I am able to use AA via USB cable in my car (Hyunday i10/2017) and I am beginning to like it. Controlling the music player is so much better in the car's big screen!
I tried to establish a wireless connection using Bluetooth, because the AA app on my phone offers that option, but I can not make that connection, and I am beginning to think I might have a problem of understanding this technique. So I would appreciate a bit of help and explanation here.
Without the cable, just using BT, I am able to select people in the address book and make phone calls. The control buttons on the steering wheel also working perfectly: take calls, hang up, volume control. I guess this is some sort of typical old school free hand phone call protocol.
Also, when on BT, I get minimum control over the phone's music player with the steering wheel buttons, *after* I started the player on the phone's screen: next/previous track, volume control.
When I plug in the USB cable, AA starts and I get full control over the music player using my car's entertainmane screen: I can dig around in artists and albums list, and I can do any thing I can do on the phone's screen.
As said before: the AA app belonging to the MtG package offers to connect AA through BT, and I very much would like a galvanic separation between my car and my phone. But I can not make it work that way.
So, my question is: am I on the wrong track there? Does AA over BT work at all? Or do I need to make a wifi connection? What conditions need to be fitted on the phone, the LOS version, the GAPSS version and the car?
Many thanks in advance!
Wireless AA uses WiFi, you can not do AA with just BT. Your car does not support Wireless AA. You can connect via USB and use AA (it will use BT, too), or you can connect wireless with just BT, without AA.
Thanks!
I was totally confused there, because the AA app in LOS offers wireless connection to the car using BT. If I am getting it right now, that option only applies to streaming phone calls and music to the car.
Wouldn't it be better to label that option otherwise?
I have a separate Samsung S10 phone for Android Auto use only in my car (Mercedes EQC). The Android Auto phone is used for Google Maps, media control (controlling a Pi with a 2 TB SSD and a music library of around 200 000 tracks hidden in the center console - I don't use streaming at all, both for privacy reasons and because a lot of my underground extreme metal is not on any streaming services). The problem is that the car puts that phone as the first phone in the list, and sometimes it doesn't even connect by BT to my phone and my wife's phone. Can I block Android Auto from using the phone part of it, or make it think that the S10 is a tablet, so I avoid this problem? I have tried to turn off the phone radio (flight mode, and then only activate wifi, which I use to connect to the Pi), but that doesn't help.
Did you check in Android Auto Settings if "keep Bluetooth on" is on?
Yeah, that one was off, but t seems that AA doesn't obey it. But it got me thinking, and I remembered that I had this working the last time I was messing around with AA. I finally found it in AA Tweaker, a tweak named "connect automatically to bluetooth" or something like that. Finally I got it working! Thanks for jogging my memory!