Google connects Gemini to Gmail, Calendar and Photos in Android Auto
IA en un minuto newsroom · Editor: Jon Elgezabal
In 30 seconds
Google now lets Gemini on Android Auto look through a driver's email, calendar, photos or maps to answer questions about their own day, such as the boarding gate or the address of an appointment. Users must switch it on deliberately and can turn it off whenever they like. Cars with Google built-in will get it later, and for now it is excluded in Spain and the rest of the European Economic Area.
On Tuesday, October 20, Google began rolling out Personal Intelligence on Android Auto, the system that mirrors the phone on the car's screen. The feature lets Gemini draw on the Google apps each person already uses. Karan Daryanani, Senior Product Manager for Gemini, announced it on the company's blog, noting that the assistant is already available worldwide both on Android Auto and in cars with Google built-in. Those cars, which according to Thurrott run Google's system without relying on a connected Android phone, will get the feature in the coming months.
If the user allows it, Gemini can look up Workspace (Gmail and Google Calendar included), Google Photos, Google Maps, YouTube and Search. Google credits it with two abilities: finding a specific detail in an email, a photo or a place saved in Maps, and reasoning by combining several of those sources. Its examples include asking, on the way to the airport, for the boarding gate and whether the flight is delayed, and getting both answers at once; requesting a restaurant on the route that suits one's usual tastes (a vegetarian will be offered suitable places); heading to a doctor's appointment without giving the address; returning to the car wash shown in a photo from the previous week; or going to the coffee shop discussed the day before.
No app is connected until the user turns the feature on, and it can be switched off at any time in the Gemini settings. Anyone already using it in the Gemini app will also have it in the car. In cars with Google built-in, personal answers only appear when the user is inside with their phone connected. Without Personal Intelligence, navigation, music, calls and questions keep working, but the answers are not tailored to each person.
"Personal Intelligence does the heavy lifting so you can speak naturally, without having to explain context or dig for information," Daryanani writes.
The rollout covers eligible personal Google accounts belonging to people aged 18 or over, not Workspace business, enterprise or education accounts, and spans the whole world except Nigeria, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the European Economic Area. For now, therefore, it is not available in Spain. Google has not given a more specific date for cars with Google built-in.
Why it matters · analysis and opinion
Asking the assistant something while driving has mostly been useful for general things: a route, a song, a search result. What changes is that Gemini can cross-reference what is already in each person's accounts and save exactly the lookups that are most distracting at the wheel, such as opening an email to check a booking. For people who spend many hours on the road for work, such as sales reps or technicians going from visit to visit, the value lies in having their calendar and inbox connected. But the rollout leaves out much of Europe, Spain included, as well as Workspace business accounts, which is precisely where those work appointments tend to live. Before turning it on, it is worth checking which apps get connected and remembering that the permission can be withdrawn at any time.
Official source: Google · Written with the help of AI: how we make the news
