Google Assistant 'Driving Mode not working or disappeared' for some (potential workarounds inside)

Since its release years ago, Google Assistant has been getting a lot of improvements and new features.

The goal of Assistant is to facilitate access to multiple actions through voice commands, without having to manually control the device. ‘Driving Mode’ is one of its available options.

As its name suggests, Driving Mode allows users to perform different actions through voice commands while driving, avoiding dangerous distractions resulting from manually controlling a mobile device.

The feature allows actions such as asking for directions, managing the playback of music or multimedia, answering questions, etc.

However, currently some Google Assistant users are facing an issue where the Driving Mode is not working or disappearing (1, 2, 3).

According to multiple reports, the issue starts with Google Assistant Driving Mode shortcuts suddenly disappearing for no apparent reason.

Afterwards, users affected by the bug will completely lose access to the Driving Mode features. They will be unable to access the feature either manually or through voice commands.

Google Assistant Driving Mode not available

To run the Driving Mode Assistant I have added to the home screen the kind of widget/shorcut that the app allowed to add to run it easier.

Since almost two weeks ago the shortcut on the main screen disappear every two days and the only way to get back the Driving Mode Assistant is to uninstall all updates of Android Auto, clear data and cache and update it again so it suggest me to use it again.

Five days ago that icon disappeared again and the icon to run Android Auto disappeared too.
Source

Google Assistant no longer works for Driving Mode or many other functions after Maps update

Driving mode is enabled in Assistant Settings>”When Navigating in Google Maps.” Before the Google Maps update, everything worked fine. Since the latest update, almost all Assistant functionality when navigating in Maps has broken except for a few functions, such as weather.
Source

Apparently, a recent Google App update (v13.20.14.23.arm64) brought the bug. So, installing a previous version of the Google App works as a temporary fix.

In May, a Google product expert escalated the issue to the Google team.

Thank you for your device details Juan

Your issue has been escalated to the Google product team for further investigation.

Please reply in this thread if you discover your issue has been resolved.
Source

In a recent reply, the same product expert recommends users to check if they have the latest Google App update on their phones as a possible solution to the problem.

hi teddy,

could you please check for an update of the google app (not the google maps app)?

update the google app if available, then try driving mode again?
Source

The latest Google App update available is v13.21.16.29.arm64. In case it is not available through the Google Play Store for you yet, you can search trusted repositories (such as APK Pure).

We will update this story as events unfold.

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