‘I didn’t understand that’: Android Auto users say their cars are becoming dangerous thanks to one failing feature

Google Assistant on Android Auto is getting worse, and drivers are getting frustrated. Many people say the failing voice control is making their cars more dangerous. Google is pushing its new AI called Gemini, but the slow release mixed with the old Assistant breaking down is creating a risky situation for people who want to control their navigation and music without using their hands.

According to 925 Google, people are complaining online about their Android Auto problems. The old Assistant is not working well and often says “I didn’t understand that” even for basic commands. Other simple tasks just don’t work at all.

This is more than just annoying – it’s a safety problem. The whole reason for having a voice assistant in your car is to keep your eyes on the road. When Assistant fails, you have two bad options. You can either use your car’s touchscreen, which takes five times longer than a voice command, or you can grab your phone to type in what you need. Both options force you to look away from the road, which is dangerous while driving.

Google’s Assistant problems are worse when you’re driving at high speeds

Google has had similar issues with Assistant on smart speakers and other devices over the past year. Google even admitted these problems a few months ago. But the issues feel much worse when you’re driving on the highway.

Many users think this sudden drop in quality isn’t an accident. There’s a strong belief that Google is letting Assistant fail on purpose to push people toward the new replacement. Google has been making improvements to its smart home ecosystem, including adding new smart home features, but Assistant’s car performance keeps declining.

One user explained this feeling by saying, “At this point I’m pretty much certain that Google has been crippling Assistant to push people into migrating to Gemini. There are simple questions and requests it no longer understands and there’s no explanation for functionality declining except for the constant negative me to switch over to Gemini.” This is a serious accusation, but the quick drop in quality makes it easy to see why drivers think this way.

The good news is that Gemini should fix many of these problems. Google announced in November 2025 that the new AI would start coming to Android Auto. Gemini is more interactive than the old Assistant. It works as a great tool for planning or thinking through ideas while you’re driving, which is useful if you’re trying to plan your day on the road.

But Gemini isn’t perfect yet. It sometimes doesn’t work directly with Android Auto apps, which can be annoying. For example, you might ask Gemini to navigate somewhere, and after you finish the task on the touchscreen, the AI keeps talking until you manually tell it to stop. Google Maps has been receiving helpful navigation updates recently, but the voice assistant integration remains problematic.

The biggest problem right now isn’t Gemini’s quality – it’s that most people can’t even use it yet. Even though it’s been almost two months since Google’s announcement, Gemini still isn’t widely available on Android Auto. It’s rolling out slowly, which means most drivers are still stuck using the quickly failing Assistant.

This slow release, combined with Assistant completely failing, is putting users in a frustrating and dangerous situation. A voice assistant in the car isn’t just a nice feature – it’s one of the main reasons people use Android Auto. Google needs to speed up this rollout before more people are forced to look at their phones instead of the road.