Quite major Staying safe while driving requires keeping your eyes on the road. That’s not always easy when you need to take a call, switch playlists, or change your navigation destination. When you need to do these things, you need to pull over (or ask a passenger to do it), but that’s not always possible.
Use your voice to control Android Auto or Apple CarPlay and get directions, find information, and control media playback without taking your hands off the wheel or your eyes off the road. When you’re in your car and connected to Android Auto or Apple CarPlay:
Talk to Android Auto
There are a few ways to let Android Auto hear your voice. One is to tap the microphone icon that appears on the side of the interface next to the list of recently used apps. Another is to press the voice command button on your car’s steering wheel, if it has one. It looks different depending on your car, but usually it’s an illustration of a person’s profile with their mouth open, with sound waves coming out of it (check your car’s manual if you’re not sure).
If you want to have Android Auto voice-recognize you using the “Hey Google” prompt completely hands-free, you’ll need to make sure voice prompts are enabled on your phone. Go to Settings, Connected Devices > Connection Settings (Google Pixel smartphones) or simply Connected Devices (Samsung Galaxy Phone) Android Auto.
choose “Hey Google” detection You’ll then see two toggle switches that allow you to choose whether you want hands-free voice activation on your phone to be enabled all the time, or only while you’re driving. If you haven’t done so already, to enable this feature you’ll need to record some voice samples so your phone can recognize you during calls and requests.
About Apple CarPlay
Like Android Auto, your car may have a voice command button on the steering wheel that you can press before talking to Siri in Apple CarPlay. This varies by car make, model, and year. If the voice control button isn’t obvious, you may need to check your manual to find it. (Look for a button with a picture of a person talking.)
