Android Auto users are frustrated that Gemini won't run their routines

Your car’s suspension may make short work out of the bumpy roads you cross on your travels, but there’s little it can do to help with the bumpy rollout Gemini has experienced on Android Auto. Sometimes, it may be fantastic, but then there are times when it won’t shut up or just leaves us feeling hugely frustrated. Recently, we’ve been hearing users complain about the latest problem with Gemini on Android Auto, as their smart home routines fail to run.

Google Home routines are one of the platform’s biggest superpowers, making it a snap to set up even complex actions. Once you go to the trouble of creating some good ones, you’re understandably going to feel very upset when they just stop working — but that’s exactly what a number of Android Auto users report in a Reddit thread.

For people who are experiencing this glitch, their phones are still able to successfully trigger Google Home routines when not connected to their vehicles, but once Android Auto is active, they can’t get Gemini to run them.

Some users report Gemini giving them “random” responses to requests to run routines, while others hear a generic “something went wrong” message. That said, the problem doesn’t appear to be universal, with at least some mentioning success getting Gemini to run their routines, even when connected to Android Auto.

Looking over on Google’s support community, we do find similar reports of issues with routines on Android Auto, but we’re not seeing any active item concerning routines open on the issue tracking thread.

We’ve reached out to Google to see if the Android Auto team is aware of these reports of incompatibility with Home routines, and find out if the company has anything to share about a fix or possible mitigation steps. We’ll update this coverage with anything we’re able to learn.