Android Auto 11.8 is now downloadable and brings great new features if you use Google Maps in the car

Google does not stop: Android Auto updates continue, and although the company still does not confirm what’s new, what is clear is that all drivers should update the application as soon as possible, as per usual.

And Android Auto updates are notorious for “breaking” a lot of things, but also for fixing them. And in the case of Android Auto 11.8This is the version that should fix many of the recent issues users have been experiencing, like Google Assistant crashes on Android Auto.

We already know that we also have to update WhatsApp if we use it on Android Auto, since the application is not capable of receiving the voice commands that we give while driving due to a “bug”. In addition to WhatsApp, it is also advisable to update Android Auto to fix this and other issues.

Android Auto 11.8 now available

But without a doubt, the big reason to upgrade to Android Auto 11.8 lies in an important new feature in Google Maps; Although the company has not confirmed it, the first users who installed the update have confirmed the presence of a change in the Google Maps interface when we use it in the car.

Concretely, the change concerns the status of shortcuts to common locations; such as home and work location. These shortcuts are useful for telling Maps that we want to go home no matter where we are, for example; We can also save a place that we visit regularly, such as a shopping center or a family member’s house. The mobile application also has this type of shortcuts and these are synchronized with our Google account; The problem in Android Auto is that these shortcuts were not very “direct” and were not easily accessible.

From now on, shortcuts are in the search bar

. They will appear just below the bar, with the name (like the house or the name of the place recorded) and the duration of the journey in minutes and the distance to travel from the point where we are. Just click on the location and the tour will automatically start in Google Maps as if we had selected it manually.

So it’s not one of those new things that can forever change the way we drive, but it’s still appreciated because it can save us time on every trip we make.

As usual, the update to Android Auto 11.8 is available via Google Play, although not all users will receive it at the same time. We can try to search for updates in the Google Play Store so that the mobile downloads them sooner, although this does not always work.