Driving Copilot
Assistant experiences across Android Auto, Maps, and Google built-in helped drivers stay connected without asking them to look away from the road.
Google built-in from 0 to 1 · Across millions of cars · Voice, Maps, and AI
My role
Product Lead, Assistant Auto
I owned the business case and a portfolio of products and teams across Android Auto, Automotive, and Maps, building the embedded platform from 0 to 1.
Product
The problem
Driving asks too much of attention
Driving asks too much of attention
Driving asks too much of attention
In the car, every message, glance, and touch competes with the one thing a driver cannot spare. After a life-changing accident in 2021, I understood the cost. A driver needs meaning and one safe action, not another stream of information.
The vision
The car should look after you
The car should look after you
The car should look after you
KITT made an intelligent, conversational car feel possible when I was young. At Google, that idea became a serious question. I wanted the car to keep people connected to life without asking them to look away from the road.
The approach
In the car, AI should compress complexity
In the car, AI should compress complexity
In the car, AI should compress complexity
Safety shaped the intelligence. The car is not the place for an open-ended assistant. Short prompts, predictable actions, clear confirmation, and graceful recovery matter more than conversational breadth. Less information, delivered at better timing, keeps attention where it belongs.
The proof
Projected, built in, then proactive
Projected, built in, then proactive
Projected, built in, then proactive
Assistant brought voice-led navigation, messaging, and media into Android Auto. Android Automotive OS and Google Automotive Services built Maps and Assistant into the vehicle. AI message summaries and constrained actions reduced long threads to the gist and a few safe next steps.
The belief
Protect the attention that matters most
Protect the attention that matters most
Protect the attention that matters most
This work reflects the principle behind my career. Technology should protect the human capacity that matters most in the moment. In a car, that capacity is attention. We built it so drivers could stay connected and keep their eyes on the road.
KITT made it feel possible.
I grew up imagining a car that could understand what was happening and help at the right moment. At Google, that childhood idea became a serious product question: how can intelligence be useful without competing for a driver’s attention?
Voice-led navigation, messaging, and media brought that idea into Android Auto and Maps. The goal was not conversation for its own sake. It was connection with fewer glances and touches.
The accident made it a responsibility.
After a life-changing car accident in 2021, I wrote down ideas from the emergency room about safer information flow.
The principle became sharper: in the car, AI should compress complexity. A driver needs the meaning of a message, the next navigation decision, or one safe action, not another stream of information.
One conviction across the car.
Speak instead of touch
Assistant in Android Auto made navigation, messaging, and media available through voice across compatible vehicles.
Built in, not bolted on
Android Automotive OS and Google Automotive Services brought Maps, Assistant, Play, and apps into the vehicle without requiring a phone in the driver’s hand.
Less information, better timing
AI message summaries and constrained actions reduced long conversations to the gist and a small set of relevant next steps.
That direction also included drowsiness assistance designed to reduce demand when a driver was tired. We documented the approach in a defensive publication.
Cars exposed a hard product constraint: the assistant had to feel immediate despite limited onboard computing and unreliable connectivity. We used purpose-built models and a hybrid processing approach to make real-time help practical on real roads.
Safety shapes the intelligence.
The car is not the place for an open-ended assistant interface. Short prompts, predictable actions, clear confirmation, and graceful recovery matter more than conversational breadth.
We built across Assistant, Android Auto, Maps, Android Automotive, messaging, media, AI, safety, and automaker teams. The system worked because those disciplines shared responsibility for the driver’s attention.
Stay connected. Keep attention on the road.
This work reflects the principle behind my career: technology should protect the human capacity that matters most in the moment. In a car, that capacity is attention.
Explore the work
Launch · Google Assistant in Android Auto
Launch · AI message summaries and actions
Coverage · AI summaries and actions
Built collaboratively across Google Assistant, Android Auto, Maps, Android, messaging, media, AI, safety, and automaker partner teams.
Let’s exchange ideas about technology that helps people live better.
Let’s exchange ideas about technology that helps people live better.