Your phone may soon be able to tell when you’re driving and automatically enable Android Auto or Do Not Disturb Mode.
Over 1,200 people lost their lives on Australian roads last year, and while not all of them would be related to use of a mobile device, not using your phone when driving is just good practice. To help you not to be distracted while driving, Google is looking to use the smarts of the new Android Pie update to sense when you’re in a moving vehicle, and automatically offer you either Do Not Disturb or Android Auto modes.
According to a teardown of Google Play Services version 14.3.62, XDA-Developers have found a Driving Mode that taps into the microphones to detect engine sounds, motion sensors and connected Bluetooth devices (like your car Stereo) to determine if you’re in a car.
Obviously there’s always the chance that you’ll be a passenger in a vehicle, and quite within your rights to use your phone so you’ll be happy to know you get a choice of automatically launching it, or being offered the choice.
There will be a setup procedure to enable Driving Mode on Android Pie once it’s live, giving you the choice between Do Not Disturb and Android Auto as well as a couple of different options.
There’s no word on when the feature will go live, but the appearance in Play Services would lead you to believe it’s destined for a fairly broad rollout. We’ll have to wait for Google to flip the switch on this one, but it’s a pretty good idea.
