A key Google Maps bug fix has just arrived for Android Auto

Good news, Android Auto users: Google is finally rolling out an update designed to squash a serious bug that had cropped up in Google Maps.

The problem was first reported by Google Maps users in January, with claims that the app kept losing its GPS signal. More specifically, this was happening when Google Maps was running on Android Auto.

As you probably know, Android Auto is Google’s answer to Apple CarPlay, and is a car infotainment system that runs on an Android phone, but is displayed on the car’s dashboard screen. Any faults with Android Auto apps are actually faults with the apps running on the phone itself.

In this case, Google Maps was failing to work properly and would show a ‘GPS signal lost’ error message through the Android Auto system.

This would sometimes happen immediately after launching the app, or would also happen later and seemingly at random. Without GPS, a navigation app like Google Maps is essentially useless, as it doesn't know where you are in relation to its mapping database, so can't offer accurate directions or distances.

Thankfully, Google is now rolling out a fix. According to AutoEvolution, the latest build of Google Maps for Android, called version 11.66, solves the problem. This version is currently rolling out from the Play Store now, and should be with all users in the coming days and weeks.

Users who have taken a more hands-on approach report that, by downloading the APK app installer manually and updating to version 11.66.602, Google Maps is no longer plagued by the Android Auto GPS error message.