Android Auto redesigns Google Maps alerts to make them less distracting

If you’ve spent any time behind the wheel in Android Auto in the last few years, you’ll have probably I came across the pop-up alerts on Google Maps and realized how annoying they can be. Now, Google is rolling out a redesign and it’s a big improvement.

Google Maps incident reporting, Waze’s signature feature, launched in 2024. It took a few months to land on Android Autoand started integrating Waze reports not long after. Google has modified the characteristic in recent years, but one thing it didn’t address was design.

That design was a bit controversial, as some found the pop-ups distracting as they would replace your written instructions and/or ETA for several moments unless you interact with the overlay. In a 2025 surveya series of 9to5Google Readers were in favor of the existing design, while most others found it at least a little annoying.

This is what it looked like in a Subaru Crosstrek in early 2025:

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Now, Google is implementing a redesign.

The new popup window displays directly over the estimated time, leaving all existing UI elements in place. Nothing moves, the alert just appears for a few seconds with the option “Yes” or “No” and then disappears.

On a taller screen, like the one we saw in a Subaru Forester, the change doesn’t make much of a difference. Google Maps already kept directions easily visible most of the time, but the UI change was much more distracting than the new pop-up.

On a short, wide screen, like the Kia Niro EV shown below, the new pop-up layout still manages to appear without moving other UI elements, simply by pressing down a bit on the shortcuts usually found near the ETA for the few seconds it’s displayed.

The new Google Maps alert UI appears to be rolling out to Android Auto users now, although we’re not sure if this was triggered by a recent update to the Android Auto or Google Maps app.

Let us know in the comments below if you are seeing this tweak.