A decent number of folk are flocking to Google's Product Forums after experiencing problems with Google Play Music on Android Auto. The issue doesn't seem to be confined to any one car, manufacturer, or phone, and it manifests itself via an error message when attempting to play music from Google's service. Restarting the phone fixes the problem temporarily, but users report they have to do this every time they want to use Android Auto for Play Music to work correctly.

If you think you may be affected, you should see an error message which appears when trying to play media from Google Play Music, "Google Play doesn't seem to be working right now." There are contradictory reports about other music services also failing, and some have said that instead of receiving an error message music only pauses immediately after playing. Some have claimed that they experienced the issue only after a recent Google Play Music update. Employees on Google's product forum have been taking information and bug reports from those with the problem. The data being requested, as provided by a statement from a Google employee on the forum, is below.

Hi all,

We are investigating this issue.

@Anyone who wants to newly report similar symptom on this thread, please share the information below.

@Everyone on this thread, it'd be helpful if you can also fill in template to add on more information.

  • Car / head unit make & model:
  • Phone make & model:
  • Android OS version (Settings > About phone):
  • Android Auto app version (Settings > Apps > Android Auto):
  • Google Play Music app version (Settings > Apps > Android Auto):
  • Google Play services version (Settings > Apps > Google Play services):

Thanks!

Reports vary, and not all are experiencing these problems. Using the Android Auto app directly from a phone also manifests the same issues for some, but most reports are for hardware implementations of the system. If you happen to see it, consider adding your voice over at Google's Product Forums, and perhaps with more reports, they'll be able to find a solution.

Source: Google (1), (2), (3)

Thanks: Paul