New to Android Auto - any tips?

[Talky Toaster]

I found I was getting no spoken directions from Google maps, turns out it was because the volume was down on the phone or it was on vibrate, worth remembering if you're planning on using it.

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

I found I was getting no spoken directions from Google maps, turns out it was because the volume was down on the phone or it was on vibrate, worth remembering if you're planning on using it.

The third reason for this (as I found out by accident) is shouting "GOOGLE - SHUT THE **** UP!" as it's talking over something more important on the radio.
Not a peep out of her since!

 

[Ian Key]

The third reason for this (as I found out by accident) is shouting "GOOGLE - SHUT THE **** UP!" as it's talking over something more important on the radio.
Not a peep out of her since!

Also works with Alexa

 

[Tigger]

I have (sort of) found out what my problem is with Android Auto. I tested it this morning with my son's Pixel 6 phone, and everything was fine - Google maps, music, it all worked. I then tried it with my OnePlus 9 Pro phone, and again everything worked Great - except that when I tried it again, it didn't work, the car refused to connect.

What happens when I plug my phone in is that a message pops up on the phone, offerring the selection File transfer / Android Auto, which I select. The first time I did this, the Android Auto icon on the car's screen lit up, and all was well. The second time. the icon did not light up, there was no connection, and when I tapped the AA icon it responded with 'Plug in phone with USB cable.' Why, it was connected? As far as I can tell, the car had switched into file transfer mode. not AA.

And once it gets into this state, it's impossible to get out of it. Even my son's Pixel, which always works, can't connect after this, and locking and unlocking the car doesn't help. WTF?

 

[Grriff]

I have a Moto G6. When I plug in the USB-C lead and swipe down the phone screen from top left, I get the notification 'Android System'. If I tap this to get more options, its default state is 'No data transfer'. When it's connected to the computer, I usually have to change this to 'File Transfer' but not when I connect to AA. So, if it's possible, try selecting the 'No data transfer option', which seems counter-intuitive, and see if it works.

 

[Tigger]

@Grriff Thanks for that, it works! (For the moment, anyway. . . )

Amazing that if you tap Android Auto on the phone, it confuses the car, but if you do nothing, it just works. I will try it a few more times before I'm certain, but so far so good. I've got to remember there is a bit of a pause after plugging in the cable before it springs into life, makes me think nothing's happening. Wrong - don't touch anything!

 

[Grriff]

@Tigger I've found it's worth giving the car a couple of minutes to wake up before plugging in the phone.

 

[Morleym]

I finally got my new phone with Android Auto installed, so I plugged it in to see what would happen. Pretty impressed so far, but I have a feeling I'm not aware of all its capabilities and how to get the most out of it.

I thought I'd try the "call so-and-so" feature, and said "call Elsie", hoping to get the person on my contacts list whose first name is Elsie. Instead the car said "Calling Elsie Ingles nursing home" and before I even had time to react I found myself having to stammer apologies about a wrong number to a slightly bemused receptionist. I tried that again today but instead said Elsie's full name. That got a query about the name and a request to tap the right name on my contacts list, after which it worked. (And as it did, I remember that it's Elsie's birthday today, so I even had an excuse to phone her - I'd been meaning to anyway, but it had slipped my mind. She has covid. We have dinner and the theatre on Tuesday, what are the chances?)

I'm a bit nervous about just asking it to call someone though, in case a similar thing happens. Do I have to go through my entire contacts list training the system? Is it common for it to connect directly to a random business just because the first word was right?

Voice commands on the satnav have a similar thing. I was driving around nearby villages trying to get a feel of what it could do. I said "Blyth Bridge" and the car immediately said "adding a stop at Blythe Bridge, England". Which is hundreds of miles away. I tried "Blyth Bridge, Scotland" but got the same thing. I looked up Blyth Bridge in the menu by typing it in, and it was there as "Blyth Bridge, Peeblesshire". So I tried again, this time saying "Blyth Bridge, Peeblesshire". The correct words came up on the screen so I thought "this time!" But no. "Adding a stop at Blythe Bridge, England." (Eventually I confused the thing so badly that the screen froze, but fortunately it had sorted itself out overnight. I think I was adding random stops to an increasingly complicated route that went to the Midlands and back several times, when I thought I was just setting new destinations, and in the end its brain fried.)

Small places seem to suffer from non-recognition. Even though they're in the menu, the voice recognition doesn't get them. "Carlops" got me "car wash" or nothing. My own address (before I'd actually set "home") tried to send me to a ChargePlace Scotland charging station somewhere in West Lothian, for no readily apparent reason. It's not that it doesn't understand, it's that it jumps to some wild conclusion and sends you off there without giving you any chance to affirm or deny.

The system thinks I have a perol car, and offers me routes to save petrol. Despite the fact that it's bound to Caliban, who is an EV. Not sure how to change this. Will it start showing chargers if I do that? Or is there a way to ask it?

Anyway, all you Android Auto experts here, what should an absolute novice be told about this thing?

If you set up your contacts with a nickname each Google Voice will detect the nickname apparently

 

[Rolfe]

Good grief I'm not even sure where to start on that! But thanks for the tip.

And welcome, by the way.

 

[Morleym]

When you create a contact there is a field that most people ignore it's called nickname, all you need to do is type in this field a name that you can associate with the person you are trying to call. Google will then dial that number for you. For example you could put Mum in the nickname field of your mom's name and number it's very simple really.

 

[siteguru]

"Hey Google .. call Moany Bitch"

 

[Rolfe]

I get it now, thanks.

 

[Archev]

I finally got my new phone with Android Auto installed, so I plugged it in to see what would happen. Pretty impressed so far, but I have a feeling I'm not aware of all its capabilities and how to get the most out of it.

I thought I'd try the "call so-and-so" feature, and said "call Elsie", hoping to get the person on my contacts list whose first name is Elsie. Instead the car said "Calling Elsie Ingles nursing home" and before I even had time to react I found myself having to stammer apologies about a wrong number to a slightly bemused receptionist. I tried that again today but instead said Elsie's full name. That got a query about the name and a request to tap the right name on my contacts list, after which it worked. (And as it did, I remember that it's Elsie's birthday today, so I even had an excuse to phone her - I'd been meaning to anyway, but it had slipped my mind. She has covid. We have dinner and the theatre on Tuesday, what are the chances?)

I'm a bit nervous about just asking it to call someone though, in case a similar thing happens. Do I have to go through my entire contacts list training the system? Is it common for it to connect directly to a random business just because the first word was right?

Voice commands on the satnav have a similar thing. I was driving around nearby villages trying to get a feel of what it could do. I said "Blyth Bridge" and the car immediately said "adding a stop at Blythe Bridge, England". Which is hundreds of miles away. I tried "Blyth Bridge, Scotland" but got the same thing. I looked up Blyth Bridge in the menu by typing it in, and it was there as "Blyth Bridge, Peeblesshire". So I tried again, this time saying "Blyth Bridge, Peeblesshire". The correct words came up on the screen so I thought "this time!" But no. "Adding a stop at Blythe Bridge, England." (Eventually I confused the thing so badly that the screen froze, but fortunately it had sorted itself out overnight. I think I was adding random stops to an increasingly complicated route that went to the Midlands and back several times, when I thought I was just setting new destinations, and in the end its brain fried.)

Small places seem to suffer from non-recognition. Even though they're in the menu, the voice recognition doesn't get them. "Carlops" got me "car wash" or nothing. My own address (before I'd actually set "home") tried to send me to a ChargePlace Scotland charging station somewhere in West Lothian, for no readily apparent reason. It's not that it doesn't understand, it's that it jumps to some wild conclusion and sends you off there without giving you any chance to affirm or deny.

The system thinks I have a perol car, and offers me routes to save petrol. Despite the fact that it's bound to Caliban, who is an EV. Not sure how to change this. Will it start showing chargers if I do that? Or is there a way to ask it?

Anyway, all you Android Auto experts here, what should an absolute novice be told about this thing?

Don’t worry i have exactly the same with my iPhone and the five estate. Pressed the steering wheel button this morning and asked for a route to the “Wishing Tree by the sea” café in Dunbar and she reprimanded me saying she couldn’t tell me that whilst I was driving? So I asked for a route to the Bellhaven brewery along the road a bit and Waze immediately popped the route on the screen. If I ask to dial anyone she comes up with do I want home or mobile or work number so I’ve got to try to remember to specify and I have a brainfart and she hits her default “ I don’t know that one”
So I wait for a layby and do it manually .
The walk was really bracing/ cold with the biting sea breeze so I really appreciated the baked tattie with cheese and haggis

 

[Rolfe]

I haven't used it much other than as a satnav to get me to places I have helpfully sent to the phone in advance. However just before Christmas I got a bit snap-happy when driving to visit a friend. I said "call Anne Boyd", remembering to say the full name, and although I was expecting to be asked to confirm the system had selected the right person, a voice simply said "home or mobile?"

I said "home", and by the time Anne's husband picked up the call my cat in the back was yelling his head off, having heard me have a conversation with "someone". "What on earth is that racket" were the first words that emanated from my dashboard.

I called them a couple more times just because I could, to let them know I'd found a vacant charger, and then to let them know I was charged and what my ETA was. Elementary stuff, but it pleased me.

Just the other day I was driving a friend home from a hospital check-up, and I heard my phone, in my handbag on the back seat, ring. At first I thought, damn, I'm going to have to miss that call, then I realised that despite the phone not being plugged in to the car the call was still coming up on the screen. I managed to answer it and have a conversation.

I remarked to my 77-year old passenger that I wasn't used to this feature. "Oh yes, she said, my car does that too, scared the living daylights out of me the first time it happened."

I have a lot to learn.

 

[Grriff]

I'm slowly becoming reconciled to the situation whereby I'm operating a computer, which is controlling , if I'm lucky, an electric motor and steering system. The smartphone is an additional challenge.

 

[Rolfe]