Andy Walker / Android Authority
Tl; Dream
- Samsung developed a feature called site -based navigation that scans your messages for places and lets you quickly begin to navigate to these destinations from the car screen.
- This feature is available in Samsung Auto, which is Samsung’s version of Android Auto available in the Chinese version of One Ui.
- Android Auto does not yet offer a similar function, but we argue that it is going for safety reasons.
Android Auto Is one of Android’s best features, since it allows you to safely access many of your phone’s features while driving. However, it is not the only implementation of the telephone projection. In China, where Android Auto is not available, Samsung offers its own version called Samsung Auto. Samsung Auto offers many of the same opportunities as Android Auto, but it has a great feature that we want Google to copy: Place -based navigation.
Most post a destination before driving, but sometimes drivers have to change destinations intermediate. This can happen for several reasons, but when it does, it can be difficult to put the new destination without pulling over. Although it is possible to change destinations while driving, Android Auto only allows voice entrance while driving. The new destination may have an address that is difficult to say or require disambiguation when it comes to businesses, and forces drivers to briefly take their eyes to the road to choose the right place on the car screen. Pick up the phone and manually write the new address into a Navigation app Is incredibly dangerous to do while driving.
Samsung’s site -based navigation function solves this problem by scanning incoming messages for locations and providing an option to change the destination of the car screen. When you receive a message containing site information, Samsung Auto will show a notice with a button to navigate to the site.
This is useful when someone reports a new place after you have already started driving. Instead of listening to or reading the message to get the new address, which you must then specify manually as your new destination, just press a button in the notification displayed on the car screen.
When I first learned about this feature, I was surprised at how simple, but still smart it is. Most Android phones already process alerts to retrieve information such as phone numbers, URLs and addresses. Therefore, notifications with them have smart action buttons that allow you to quickly call, open the link in a browser, or See the location in Google Maps.
Android has long shown these buttons on phones, but the same alerts on Android Auto do not show them unless you open the alert panel manually. Even then Android Auto only shows the navigation smart action when there is only a single message; If a contact sends you more messages, the smart action will not appear.
There is no reason why this feature should only exist in Samsung’s version of Android Auto. Google should quickly bring it to Android Auto for users outside China, as it would make changing destinations safer while driving.