I use Android Auto almost every day, and a few things about it drive me absolutely nuts. My wireless connection drops out, message notifications interrupt my music, Gemini struggles with commands, and some apps I want aren’t even on the launcher.
Google rolled out a healthy helping of updates to Android Auto recently, breathing delightfully fresh air into a stale OS. Gemini Intelligence was the highlight of this update, porting agentic AI capabilities over to compatible cars. Gemini can read your messages, emails, and more, give you context in natural language, and basically let you do almost everything you can on your smartphone with Gemini. While Gemini on the go is certainly the star of the show, you might have missed a slightly older announcement from May 2026 that also included plenty of other interesting features.
I've been having some fun experimenting with Android Auto lately. Recently, I discovered I could set up buttons for specific tasks. I enjoyed the customization, so I decided to try something a bit more ambitious. So I tried building a custom Android Auto dashboard that changes based on where I'm driving. It did not go as planned.
Google is bringing conversational Gemini navigation to Apple CarPlay, allowing drivers to ask multi-step questions about routes and destinations, but Personal Intelligence remains unconfirmed.
The post Gemini Comes to Google Maps on Apple CarPlay: What Works appeared first on TechRepublic.
Google is bringing conversational Gemini navigation to Apple CarPlay, allowing drivers to ask multi-step questions about routes and destinations, but Personal Intelligence remains unconfirmed.
The post Gemini Comes to Google Maps on Apple CarPlay: What Works appeared first on TechRepublic.
Google kicked off 2026 with the addition of Personal Intelligence to Gemini, allowing its AI to pull in more of your data to formulate answers. It started as a paid feature but eventually came to all Gemini users. However, this feature wasn't available in the car until now. Google is rolling out Personal Intelligence to Android Auto and Google Built-in, and it is still, thankfully, an optional feature.
As Google points out, a generative AI's outputs are better "when it knows the world and knows you," which is correct in an uncomfortable sort of way. The more context you can provide to a model, the better the output will be at the end of the token shuffle. Since Google has so much of your data already, it sees Personal Intelligence as a differentiator versus other AI systems. You don't have to provide the AI context because it already has it from apps like Gmail and Calendar.
Personal Intelligence is beginning its rollout in Android Auto today, and it will come to vehicles with Google built-in in the next few months. As an aside, "Google built-in" is questionable branding, but it refers to cars that run Google software in the infotainment system rather than projecting an interface from your phone. Very few vehicles have Google built-in, but Google often releases new car features on them first. This time, it's the other way around.
Is your phone overheating with CarPlay or Android Auto? Learn why wireless charging and navigation cause heat and how to keep your phone cool.
The post Phone Overheating With CarPlay or Android Auto? Here’s How to Fix It appeared first on TechRepublic.
Is your phone overheating with CarPlay or Android Auto? Learn why wireless charging and navigation cause heat and how to keep your phone cool.
The post Phone Overheating With CarPlay or Android Auto? Here’s How to Fix It appeared first on TechRepublic.
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