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Android Auto missing incident reports? Your car's display is probably too short for this

Adamya Sharma/Android Authority

TL;DR

  • Incident reporting via Google Maps is rolling out on Android Auto, but many users aren't seeing the new button on their car's display.
  • Apparently the button won't appear if your car display doesn't have enough vertical space.
  • Google Maps incident reporting on Apple CarPlay has a different button layout so it works properly.

Google Maps on Android Auto recently received its highly anticipated traffic accident reporting feature, bridging the gap between the phone app and your car's dashboard app. But if you've been holding your breath waiting for the feature to appear on your car's dashboard, there's a twist here that you probably didn't know about. It turns out that your car's center console screen may be too short for this button.

As 9to5Google I found out that the incident report button doesn't always appear in Google Maps on Android Auto. This is because the button will not appear if there is not enough vertical space on the car's screen. If your car's display isn't large enough to show all the buttons, the incident report button will be removed instead of the buttons being pressed together.

The images above show two scenarios with the same phone and the same car. The first image shows a standard setup where the danger button is not visible on the left side of the display. The second image has a DPI adjustment to show more information on the screen and this makes the danger button visible.

Even a longer display diagonal does not reveal the button. Display diagonals are misleading, especially in cars, and you have to pay attention to the vertical distance by noting the display diagonal in addition to the aspect ratio. If your display is wider instead of taller, you probably won't see this button.

Oddly enough, the same problem doesn't exist with Google Maps on Apple CarPlay, as the implementation there displays fewer buttons and uses a different layout. So Apple's implementation not only has the incident reporting feature on Google Maps earlier, but it also works independently of the car's display. Android users, on the other hand, come in second place if their car's display is large enough for an additional button.

We hope Google reconsiders this design decision and finds a button layout that adapts more dynamically to different sized car displays.

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