Android Auto finally exits the slow lane, adds Google Maps speedometer

There is fresh movement around Android Auto finally exits the slow lane, adds Google Maps speedometer, and the story is worth a closer look.

We pulled together what is known so far and what it could mean for the people following it.

For as much as Android Auto handles, there was one way that it was woefully behind: it had no speedometer in Google Maps.

This basic feature has been a part of Google Maps on Apple CarPlay for two years and it has taken until this week for Android Auto users to get it.

Android Auto users started posting the addition of the feature to Reddit a couple of days ago, which was spotted by 9to5Google.

The feature displays the vehicle’s speed next to the local speed limit when navigating. Speeding turns the speed reading to yellow or red. If there is no route set, Google Maps shows just the vehicle’s speed.

The speedometer has shown up in version 26.29.02.946673643 beta, though not all users with that version have it yet.

The update has shown up rather unceremoniously and perhaps that’s because it would be hard for Google to explain what took so long.

Waze had a speedometer even before Google acquired it in 2013. Android users have had access to a speedometer on Google Maps since 2019, and iOS users got it two years ago.

For whatever reason, Google delayed integrating it into the Android Auto experience until now.

Of course, every car is outfitted with a speedometer, so what does adding it to Google Maps do?

Well, first there is the visual of seeing a vehicle’s speed next to a speed limit, which is the only alert aside from road signs that a driver might get that they are driving in excess of what the law allows.

Then there is the argument that GPS calculates actual speed better than a car’s own speedometer. A piece on Autoevolution endorses the idea that GPS is a pure calculation of a vehicle’s speed, that is speed equals distance divided by time, whereas a car’s speedometer depends on a variety of factors that are calculated to display a speed that is within an industry-accepted range of accuracy, but is not necessarily accurate.