Android Auto - Phone Missing from Menu, Won't Re-Connect?

[XanRules]

Hi all,

I got a Pixel 2 last weekend, and had been using it to connect to Android Auto without issue until last night. As I was leaving the grocery store last night, I got some error - something to the effect of "this device needs to be updated?" I just instinctively cleared it because everything was working correctly and I was driving, didn't think much of it. This is not how I usually do things, I promise! Anyway, now Android Auto isn't working anymore. It just doesn't recognize the phone when I plug it in. The USB Cable still charges the phone but that's it. Nothing else happens.

First thing I tried was re-syncing everything via Bluetooth. This didn't work. I tried enabling and disabling Android Auto from the home screen, this did not work. Thinking this would help, I went back into Sync's home screen and "Deleted" the Pixel 2 XL from the menu (the menu goes Enable / Disable / Delete), then unpaired and re-paired everything via Bluetooth. Still nothing. Even when I open the Android Auto app with my phone, nothing happens other than the phone charging. It connects to Bluetooth no problem but I can't get it to show back up in the menu to connect Android Auto.

Any thoughts?

 

[Zissou]

Commenting to subscribe - I too got a pixel 2 XL over the weekend, switching from iphone.

 

[XanRules]

I'm happy to be back with Android but CarPlay handled music WAY better than AA does. This is probably just a weird Sync error. Nothing changed on the phone before it happened, I was just driving out of the grocery store parking lot.

 

[XanRules]

For those following along this is a known issue for the Pixel 2.

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/android-auto/MMzfS_EbBt0

I'll try some fixes and report back.

EDIT: the source of the issue is most likely that Sync3 AND/OR Android Auto have not been updated to be compatible with Android Oreo (the last AA update was pre-Oreo). This issue is widespread among people with Pixel, Nexus, and OnePlus phones running Oreo or Oreo-based Operating Systems.

EDIT 2: SOMETHING happened last night because Google's support forums are FLOODED with questions like the one in the OP today.

 

[XanRules]

For those of you following along, this is NOT a Ford issue but Google seems to have done something over this weekend that caused Android Auto to be incompatible with Android 8.0. Whatever it was, it was not an announced change and there's no change log of it, other than TONS of people suddenly realizing on the 26th-27th (depending on when they got in their car) that Android Auto didn't work with their phone running Android 8.0 and Google saying they're "investigating the problem."

The current fix is to turn on USB Debugging in Developer Options, but this hasn't worked for everyone (it did, however, work for me). Again, this is NOT a Ford issue, as it is happening on Fords, Chevys, Hondas, Subarus, and Volkswagens, as well as aftermarket Android Auto-compatible head units.