Voice commands are incredibly important while driving, which is why it’s very frustrating right now that voice commands via Google Assistant are completely broken for many Android Auto users.
Over the past few days, many Android Auto users have noticed that voice commands simply aren’t working. Whether it’s triggered on screen or through a button in your car, Google Assistant just doesn’t work.
When voice commands are attempted, Android Auto throws back the following error message:
Voice commands aren’t available right now.
This issue seems to be fairly widespread and happening regardless of car make/model, device type, and Android Auto version. The only common thread seems to be the timing, with the majority of reports coming from the past two days and especially in the past several hours. There are a number of reports across Google’s community forums as well as Reddit.
Some users report that downgrading the Google app seems to fix the problem. We’ve observed the issue on Google app version 14.34.19.29 via the app’s beta program, and uninstalling updates to the app via the Play Store does seem to fix the issue temporarily.
Update 8/25: Google has confirmed to 9to5Google that the company is aware of this issue and is already rolling out a fix via an update to the Google app. Check the Play Store for updates.
Are you affected by this issue? Let us know in the comments below.
We’ve reached out to Google for more information, but the company wasn’t immediately available for comment. We’ll update this story as new details come to light.
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