Waze has intentionally disabled most voice commands on Android Auto

Ben Schoon | May 5 2023 - 8:49 am PT

The latest update for Waze on Android Auto finally brought support for “Coolwalk,” but it also broke a few key features, including voice commands. As it turns out, those were broken intentionally.

Like Google Maps and other services, Waze has long supported Google Assistant commands for handling certain tasks, such as setting a navigation destination. Activating Assistant and issuing a command such as “navigate to Times Square” would send you to that location. It’s really considered pretty basic functionality, so it’s a surprise that those commands are now broken for many.

As we reported last week, Waze’s latest updates on Android Auto have broken voice commands for many users, with most commands to specific addresses not working.

In response to some customers, Waze says that this is intentional, and that “at the moment” the ability to get directions to preset home or work locations are the only voice commands supported. The statement below, and variations like it, has been issued to several Waze users over the past week via customer support channels.

Hi Wazer,

I looked into your report and found that what you described is actually how Google Assistant in Waze on Android Auto is currently intended to work.

“Drive home” and “Drive to work” are the only voice commands available in Waze on Android Auto at the moment. Our developers are working on implementing full Google Assistant functionality.

We’re constantly looking for ways to improve Waze, and we appreciate your feedback.

We reached out Waze a week ago regarding this change, but the company has not gotten back to us.

“Full” functionality is apparently coming back, but Waze is offering no timeline on its return.