Google’s Android-optimized dashboard for cars is closing, but Google Maps Driving Assistant will remain.According to a report by 9to5Google , Google will close the Driving Mode Dashboard Assistant on November 21 .
Originally announced at I/O 2019 as a replacement for Android Auto, which was discontinued last year, the dashboard was designed to give users some smartphone functionality while driving.
By ending support for Assistant Driving Mode, Google no longer has a direct successor to Android Auto.
Assistant Driving Mode provides hands-free smartphone functionality
Assistant Driving Mode includes a dashboard with Google Assistant, a music player, volume controls and buttons for making a call or sending a message. It can be accessed either through a shortcut on the desktop or by verbally telling Google Assistant to start Assistant Driving Mode.It is designed to allow people to perform the most common smartphone tasks, such as navigating, texting and playing music, using only their voice. This, in turn, will reduce distractions while driving and prevent accidents.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, distracted driving causes nine deaths in the United States every day.
Most Android devices already use Assistant on Google Maps
While Google is turning off Assistant’s driving mode, the similarly named driving mode in Google Maps will remain. This gives Android users the ability to work with Google Maps optimized for cars.
The Dashboard tool uses a tile format for navigation, while the Maps version uses a combination of tabs and a grid. Both provide access to the microphone used for Google Assistant commands.
According to 9to5Google, the reason the tech giant turned off Assistant Driving Mode was because most were using the Maps version. Because of the similarity in names and features, some may not have even known the Assistant version existed.
Many in the community saw the Assistant Driving Mode dashboard as a demotion, and some speculated that it was never intended to be a permanent replacement, but instead was a temporary measure to gradually convert Android Auto users to Google Maps.
Because the two apps have so many features, Google may have decided that there was no reason for them to exist.
Google is abandoning technology without voice assistants
Closing Driving Mode is the latest in a series of steps that Google Assistant has taken to abandon features that are not based solely on the voice assistant. Other projects that have been abandoned include Snapshot , which provided Android users with a summary of the most important tasks of their day, and Smart Display Games , which allowed third-party apps using both touch and voice input to suggest games on the Nest Hub.
