Smart Replies come to Android Auto, they’re just not smart enough

Talking to your car is just so two miles ago

Android Auto has done a lot to make texting while driving less distracting and ultimately safer for everybody. However, there are times when you may not be able to rely on voice dictation to get your message out, and it may not be worth pulling over just to tap out a short response. Now Google is bringing the Smart Reply feature to Android Auto so it only takes a single tap to get back to somebody.

Now when you receive a message and tap on the notification to have it read aloud, one or two very short responses are provided as suggestions. Tapping on a response will send it through the relevant messaging app and clear the notification. There is also a button at the top right for sending a custom reply — or you can simply say that you want to respond — either method prompts you to speak your message.

Despite the name, Smart Reply isn’t quite as clever as some of the things we’ve come to expect from Google’s AI-based services like Assistant; though this seems to be fairly typical performance for the Smart Reply feature as it exists in Messages and Gmail. After quite a few tests with simple messages, the options provided were only occasionally useful, and some were entirely nonsensical.

Sometimes smiley (or frowny) emoji are offered in place of text, which really does make a lot of sense for a low-effort reply, but perhaps belongs in a separate place with a few standard emoji in addition to the suggested responses.

Google first announced its plans to bring Smart Reply to Android Auto back in December, noting that it was coming soon. It may have taken a bit longer than many expected, but it’s on the way now. Unlike many Android Auto feature rollouts, this one seems to be moving pretty rapidly with the first reports of it hitting this weekend, and quite a few people confirming it’s available already.