After months of waiting, Waze finally launched support for Android Auto’s “Coolwalk” dashboard redesign last week, but that update seems to be causing major issues for some, including breaking voice commands and leaving the app frozen.
The Waze update that enables Android Auto “Coolwalk” is tied to the latest versions of Waze for Android, and, according to many, it’s causing issues.
Reports have popped up across both the r/AndroidAuto and r/Waze subreddits, among other online forums, that there are two key issues going on with Waze lately.
The first, and perhaps more prevalent, is that voice commands via Google Assistant are broken on Waze for Android Auto. This mainly shows up when trying to set your destination, asking Assistant to “navigate to” a certain address or location. The voice command itself seems to process just fine, but it doesn’t register with Waze, ultimately causing it to fail. What’s notable here is that Google Assistant doesn’t appear to be failing in any other apps, which points to this being a Waze issue.
Beyond that, the other issue at hand is that Waze is freezing when used in fullscreen for some users. A “Welcome to Waze” screen appears whenever the app is viewed in fullscreen, with the map itself and relevant navigation only appearing when the app is viewed in split-screen. Some users say that this started after the latest Waze update and can be fixed by force-closing the Waze app on your phone.
Both issues will likely require Waze itself to intervene, and so far there’s no word on updates rolling out, or an acknowledgement from Waze on the new freezing issue. The company did respond to one user on Twitter confirming that it is aware of issues with voice commands.
Notably, one Waze user tells us that Waze support said this was “working as intended,” with the ability to set a destination other than home or work no longer supported. We wouldn’t necessarily take that at face value, as it’s coming from a support line, but we will reach out to Waze for clarification.
More on Android Auto:
- More smart home apps coming to Android Auto and Automotive
- GM doubles down on its decision to ditch Android Auto and CarPlay
- AAWireless, the wireless Android Auto adapter, gets permanent price cut to $79.99
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