Google is replacing Assistant with Gemini
blog.googleWill I finally be able to ask my car factual questions while driving? Right now android auto's assistant experience is way worse than on my phone or watch, so I end up having to use one of those (if it's important enough, otherwise I just forget).
Perhaps you'll be able to talk to the LLM whilst driving, but it seems that at least the short term trend is going to be that it can do less stuff.
https://9to5google.com/2025/03/16/google-assistant-losing-fe...
There used to be a time I could tap on the Google Assistant button, say "Hey Google, navigate to xxx", and it would fire up maps and navigate to xxx. Then it stopped working.
A week or two ago I tapped on what was the Google Assistant button, and Gemini popped up. I thought what the hell, said "navigate to xxx", and it worked. Yippee!
A few days ago I did same thing, Gemini popped up, accurately listed the spoken command, and did nothing. Just like the Google Assistant it replaced. I guess they noticed they weren't bug for bug compatible, and fixed it.
Even more infuriatingly, yesterday I tapped the "Power Off" button expecting to be presented with the power menu. Instead I got Gemini. Come on guys, give me a break. Why in gods name would I want Gemini when I hit the power button? You already have given yourself a dedicated button on the home screen.