Google Maps might soon change its graphic interface within the Android Auto app for phones
Google Maps changes its face to integrate even more with Android Auto, but the new interface is still only available to a few beta testers. If it were to be extended to all official apps, however, it would be very useful for those who often use Maps as a real-time navigator and don’t want to give up other functions, such as listening to music.
The ability to control a music player, such as YouTube Music or Spotify, while using the navigator is already available on some Android Auto beta apps for smartphones, but not yet on the official ones released to the general public. The new interface allows you to use the player in a more intuitive and safe way by integrating with the Assistant Driving Mode, also still awaited by users. In short, Google seems to be working on a radical paradigm shift in Maps and the new interface is just one of the clues that something completely new is coming. But no one can say when.
Google Maps, the new interface
In the new Google Maps beta interface for Android Auto, the media player is now shown with big buttons to turn on and off music playback and to skip tracks. Immediately below these buttons are two more, one on the right and one on the left.
The left button has a microphone icon and is used to send voice commands to Assistant. The right button, on the other hand, has an icon formed by four rectangles with rounded corners and is used to open a screen that is very reminiscent of Android Auto’s Home.
There are in fact icons for phone calls and messages and, below, the icons of some apps that you can use. Tapping on the call button opens a second screen with the last three calls made or received, plus a button to make a new call, different from these three.
Waiting for the Assistant Driving Mode
How to interpret this new interface of Google Maps inside Android Auto for the smartphone? Surely it has to be connected to Google’s will to launch the new Assistant Driving Mode that should replace Android Auto for smartphones but has been waiting for quite some time now. However, at the moment there’s only one thing for sure: the Assistant Driving Mode doesn’t have an official release date, the Android Auto app for smartphones is still available.
It’s therefore possible that Google isn’t ready to launch the new Driving Mode yet and is therefore preparing some new features for Google Maps for Android Auto to release to users.