[Feature request]: Ability to detect traffic incidents being shown

[IvelinKrastev]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Use case

In our app, we utilize the Flutter Navigation SDK in conjunction with the Android for Cars App Library templates to provide a navigation experience on Android Auto.

During testing, we observed that when an incident alert (for example, “Congestion ahead”, “Crash reported”, etc) is shown by the host or navigation system on Android Auto, it is rendered underneath our TravelEstimate widget from the SDK. This results in the incident alert being partially or fully hidden, which is a UI correctness and safety concern and may cause Play Store or certification rejection.

Proposal

An event or callback in the Flutter Navigation SDK to allow detection when a navigation alert (incident / congestion / other road hazard) is displayed on the screen. For example: onNavigationAlertShown(AlertInfo alert) and onNavigationAlertDismissed() or similar.

Why is this important

1. Overlapping UI in the Android Auto environment is a potential driver distraction and compliance risk.
2. Certification for Android Auto navigation apps requires correct behaviour of alerts and UI cards; if a third-party app’s TravelEstimate or other card overlaps a system alert, this may lead to rejection.
3. Without the detection or API, it is difficult for app developers to ensure correct layering or behaviour dynamically.

Questions

1. Does the SDK currently have any mechanism to detect when a navigation alert is shown on Android Auto (or Android for Cars) screen?
2. If yes, please describe the API / callback signature.
3. If not, is the feature on the roadmap?
4. How are “travel incident alerts” shown in the Android for Cars environment? Are they part of the template (e.g., NavigationTemplate) or handled by the host only?
5. What is the recommended approach from the SDK perspective for avoiding overlap (e.g., hide card, shift card, reduce size, etc.)?

[jokerttu]

Hi @IvelinKrastev
Thank you for reporting this feature request.

1. Does the SDK currently have any mechanism to detect when a navigation alert is shown on Android Auto (or Android for Cars) screen?
   No, not yet, we will look into this more deeper on our SDK upgrade process:

We are currently working on an SDK upgrade. Since we want to unify the API between Android and iOS, we plan to introduce the API changes for both platforms at the same time. At the moment, there are still a few unresolved issues on iOS that occasionally cause crashes.

The ongoing work to support these event listeners is available in a separate branch:feat/upgrade-to-latest-sdks
You can view the changes here: main...feat/upgrade-to-latest-sdks

And even test these API:s with

 dependencies:   
     google_navigation_flutter:
       git:
         url: git@github.com:googlemaps/flutter-navigation-sdk.git
         ref: feat/upgrade-to-latest-sdks

We hope we can land these changes and SDK upgrades soon!

2. If yes, please describe the API / callback signature.

We will check the Android Auto behaviour as well before these features are landed.

3. If not, is the feature on the roadmap?

Yes, we are working on the upgrade

4. How are “travel incident alerts” shown in the Android for Cars environment? Are they part of the template (e.g., NavigationTemplate) or handled by the host only?

Host handles these. There is currently no api to get the incident alert data for drawing it on custom up.
But there will be API that allows to disable these notifications, and also API that allows listening then these are shown. We still need to work on the Android Auto behaviour for this plugin to be sure proper use cases are supported.

5. What is the recommended approach from the SDK perspective for avoiding overlap (e.g., hide card, shift card, reduce size, etc.)?

We will upgrade the example app to demonstrate one approach.

[IvelinKrastev]

@jokerttu is this implemented in 0.8.0?

[jokerttu]

@jokerttu is this implemented in 0.8.0?

@IvelinKrastev 0.8.0 introduced support for detecting prompt visibility changes for normal navigation views.
Support for listening these on Android Auto / Carplay implementation is coming on separate PR version.