After adding a new COVID-19 layer to track coronavirus trends by region to Google Maps, Google has started testing a new car mode UI for the navigation app. As per a recent report from Android Police, the new UI has started making its way to a handful of users via a server-side switch, and it brings bigger buttons to help users easily navigate through the app while they're driving.

As you can see in the attached screenshots, the updated Google Maps interface looks a lot like the Android Auto navigation UI. The navigation screen on the app now has two large buttons in the bottom bar; one for voice input and another to open the new home screen. When you're not on the navigation screen, the bottom bar gets a third Maps button which helps you quickly return to the navigation screen.

Right above the bottom bar, you get the music playback controls. The controls have large text and buttons to help you easily control your music while driving. The rest of the navigation screen remains the same.

As mentioned earlier, the app now has a new home screen that can be accessed by tapping on the new home screen button in the navigation UI. It's home to all the essentials, like your music players, podcast apps, calls, and messages.

Tapping on the calls button opens up a new screen that shows your top three contacts, along with the three most recent calls. It also has a "Call someone else" button that allows you to call contacts that aren't shown on the call screen. Furthermore, the app now also has a dedicated interface for YouTube Music.

As mentioned earlier, the new Google Maps UI is only available for a handful of users. And we have no information from Google regarding a wider rollout yet. We'll update this post as soon as the new interface starts rolling out to more users.

Google Maps Developer: Google LLC
Price: Free
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