Android Auto + Gemini Problems: Every Known Bug and Fix (Updated July 2026)

If Gemini has been acting weird on your car's dashboard lately, you're not imagining it. Since Google started rolling Gemini out to Android Auto to replace the old Google Assistant, a handful of separate bugs have shown up — and it's genuinely confusing to figure out which one you're dealing with, and whether Google has actually fixed it yet.

I drive with Android Auto every day, so I've been tracking these as they come up. Here's where things actually stand right now, broken down bug by bug, so you can jump straight to the one affecting you.

Quick Summary

Bug 1: Gemini Won't Make Calls ("Something went wrong")

This was the first big one people ran into. You'd ask Gemini to call a contact hands-free, and instead of dialing, you'd just get an error message telling you to try again — no matter how many times you actually tried again.

The good news: this one's already resolved. Google confirmed the issue and pushed a fix through the app itself, so you don't need to wait for a full Android Auto or car software update.

What to do:

1. Open the Google Play Store on your phone
2. Search for the Google app (and Gemini, if it's listed separately for you)
3. Tap Update if one is available
4. Restart your phone once before your next drive

If you've already updated and calls still aren't going through, it's worth checking Bug 2 below — some users report call issues actually being a symptom of the broader "Gemini stops responding properly" problem rather than the original bug.

Bug 2: Gemini Keeps Listening (and Covers Your Navigation)

This one's more subtle, and it's still not fixed. Here's what happens: you tap the screen to do something manually — skip a song, glance at the map — and Gemini doesn't register that you've taken over. It keeps behaving as if you're still mid-conversation with it, and in the process it can temporarily replace your upcoming turn instructions with its own status info at the worst possible moment.

It's not dangerous exactly, but it's the kind of thing that makes you trust the assistant less every time it happens.

Workarounds that help (not a full fix):

• Say "stop" or "cancel" out loud instead of touching the screen — Gemini responds to that more reliably than a touch interrupting it
• If it happens repeatedly on one drive, switching back to Google Assistant for that trip avoids it entirely (see the switch-back steps below)
• Keep your Google app updated — Google has been shipping small patches for Gemini's Android Auto behavior, even though this specific issue hasn't been called "fixed" yet

Bug 3: Gemini Live Gets Stuck in a Loop

The most disruptive of the three. Some drivers have found Gemini Live gets caught talking, stopping, listening to its own audio, and starting over again — on a loop, while you're trying to drive.

Google hasn't shared a permanent fix for this one yet either. It appears to affect voice input/output handling specifically, and shows up both over a car's built-in Bluetooth and through the Gemini app directly.

What actually helps:

• Manually end the Gemini Live session (don't wait for it to stop on its own) and restart it
• If it loops again right away, avoid Gemini Live for that drive and fall back to standard Gemini voice commands, which seem less prone to this specific bug
• Report it in-app through Gemini's feedback option — Google tends to prioritize fixes based on how many reports come in

How to Switch Back to Google Assistant (If You Want a Break From Gemini)

Google has said Assistant is being phased out on Android Auto, but for now switching back is still possible on most devices, and it's a reasonable temporary fix while these bugs get worked out.

1. Open Settings on your phone
2. Go to Apps → Default apps (or Digital assistant app, depending on your Android version)
3. Select Google Assistant instead of Gemini
4. Reconnect to Android Auto and confirm the assistant switched

FAQs

Why is Gemini suddenly not working on Android Auto? Gemini is still a relatively new replacement for Google Assistant on Android Auto, and Google has been rolling it out gradually. That rollout has come with a handful of separate bugs (covered above) rather than one single cause — so "not working" can mean different things depending on which symptom you're seeing.

Will Google fix this permanently? Google has fixed at least one of these bugs already (the calling issue) through a standard app update, so ongoing fixes are clearly happening. The other two are still open as of this writing.

Is it safe to keep using Gemini while these bugs exist? None of the current known issues have been reported as safety-critical on their own, but if a bug is actively distracting you while driving, switching back to Google Assistant for that drive is the simplest way to remove the distraction.

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This page will be updated as Google ships more fixes — bookmark it if you're dealing with any of these. If Gemini's rollout across your devices has you curious how it stacks up against other assistants day-to-day, see my ChatGPT vs Gemini vs Claude comparison.