Google Maps update changes look on most car screens

If you’ve jumped into your car lately and fired up Android Auto, you might have spotted a small tweak in Google Maps. The map now sits right in the middle of your car’s screen, which means some of the map controls now overlap the map itself.

This update started appearing a few days ago and is now available to most people using Android Auto. It doesn’t matter which version of Android Auto you have; this change is tied to the latest Google Maps update.

From what we’ve seen, how much you notice this change depends on your car’s screen size. If you have a bigger screen, you might hardly notice anything different, and nothing important gets covered up. But if your screen is wider, this change might not affect you much at all.

Here’s the good news: this update doesn’t mess with your actual navigation. Once you start navigating, the map shifts back to normal, focusing on your route. A user on Reddit, u/DaiaBu, showed this in a quick video, and our tests confirmed the same behavior.

Why Google decided to make this change isn’t totally clear. One thought is it’s meant to look better on the newer, more square screens in cars. However, since Android Auto is used across a wide range of vehicles, this update could make the map look a bit less tidy when you’re not navigating.

This visual change wasn’t introduced by the most recent Android Auto update, version 13.6. Instead, we saw this centered map layout on Android Auto version 13.4 after updating Google Maps. So, while this update might not improve the look on all screens, it doesn’t change how Google Maps works for navigation.