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Google has been particularly slow with the launch of the assistant driving mode, which was announced at I / O 2019, but only available at the end of 2020. Even then, it was limited to US users. But this is no longer the case, as Google is now making the feature available to users in other countries.
The official support page previously stated that it was only available in English in the US. It is now read that some features “are not available in all languages or countries”, suggesting that they are launched in other countries – it does not specify which of them. However, we can confirm that the UK is one of them – one of our readers there received the Pixel 5.
If you are not aware of this, Google Assistant Driving Mode is intended to replace the phone mode of Android Auto. It can help you read and send messages, make calls, and control your media content with your voice, so you don’t have to leave the navigation screen.
To verify that you have received the assistant driving mode, open Google Maps and sign in Settings> Navigation settings> Google Assistant settings. If you have, this should lead you to a new driving mode panel. If not, it will open the general wizard settings screen that you can access from several other Google applications.
It is launched in several countries
Google has finally shown in which countries the assistant driving mode is being launched. At the time of writing, English-speaking Android users in Australia, the UK, Ireland, India and Singapore should be able to access the preview.
If you do not live in any of the countries listed and want to try this, you can try changing the phone language to English (US). This worked for our own Rita, who currently lives in Lebanon.
