Car UI Mode and Google Maps

[Philip]

If I set Car UI Mode: On, then I cannot run the Google Maps application - it starts and then immediately disappears. Once I switch off Car UI Mode, it works fine.

This always used to work for me, and I'm trying to understand what might have changed. I have a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, running Nougat (Android 7.0) and Maps V9.50.1. I do not have root.

Would anybody be willing to try this and let me know what happens for you? To test, it just needs a simple flow with two actions:

Set Car UI Mode: On
Launch App: com.google.android.apps.maps
(for me, this causes Maps to appear fro a moment and then disappear)

followed by:
Set Car UI Mode: Off
Launch App: com.google.android.apps.maps
(for me, this causes Maps to run normally)

Many thanks.

[Martin]

Hi,

This works for me on a Pixel XL with Android 7.1 (Maps 9.49.2) and a S7 with 7.0 (Maps 9.48.2 and Maps 9.49.2). I did not get Maps 9.50.1 yet.
Maybe the car UI mode is not engaged immediately but requires a few seconds. Please try to add a short sleep between the car mode action and launching Maps. Please also check if another flow interferes, for example a flow that uses action Show Home.

Regards,
Martin

[Philip]

Hi Martin

Many thanks for trying.

I did already have a 2s sleep between the two action; I have increased it to 10s with no change. (I normally do these actions as part of a much more complex flow - it was only through a process of elimination that I was able to isolate it as occurring with Car UI Mode: On).

I would be very interested to know what happens when you (or anybody else...) update to Maps 9.50.1. That at least would tell me whether Google has changed something in Maps, or if it's an issue with my handset.

[Philip]

UPDATE: I reported this behaviour to Google (as I'm a Beta tester for Google Maps). Never had a response, but Maps 9.50.2 was released today, and once again Maps works when the device is in Car UI Mode.

So it looks as if it was a bug/feature in Google Maps 9.50.1, and nothing whatsoever to do with Automagic.

[Philip]

Just in case anybody else is interested in this (and I appreciate that it's not really Automagic related - although I'm struggling to understand how to turn Car UI Mode on or off without using Automagic!), the latest Google Maps Beta (V9.70.0) again exhibits this behaviour. If Car UI Mode is "on", Google Maps starts briefly and then closes.

I've again reported it to the Google Maps developers - just wish they were as proactive and helpful as Martin