Volvo Car USA LLC

Technical Journal

Technical Journal Title

Ref. No.

Google Assistant - Troubleshooting Guide

TJ 37003.1.1

Issuer (Dept.)

Issue Date

Status Date

6/17/24

6/26/24

Technical Service
Car Market

Partner

Function Group

United States and Canada

3 US 7510 Volvo Car USA

3900

Function Description

Page

Media, navigation and communication

Page 1 of 13

Attachment
File Name

File Size

Fault tracing of Google Assistant.docx

0.5320 MB

Rows beginning with * are modified
Note! If using a printed copy of this Technical Journal, first check for the latest online version.

DESCRIPTION:
Note: This TJ only applies to vehicles with Google built-in / iCUP / Android Automotive (Only
US English language)
If the customer experiences issues with Google Assistant Voice Commands, please see the advice
under “Service”.

CSC Customer Symptom Codes
Code

Description

ER

App/Does not work

6B

Buttons/control knobs on centre console (Media, communication and navigation)/No/reduced/incorrect
function

II

Cellular phone/Voice control does not work

DTC Diagnostic Trouble Codes
Vehicle Type
Type

Eng

Eng
Desc

Sales

Body

Gear

Steer

Model Year

Plant

Chassis
range

Struc Week
Range

224

2023-9999

-

202222-999952

225

2023-9999

-

202222-999952

227

2023-9999

-

202222-999952

236

2022-9999

-

202122-999952

238

2022-9999

-

202123-999952

246

2022-9999

-

202122-999952

256

2023-9999

-

202222-999952

Technical Journal 37003.1.1

Type

Eng

Eng
Desc

Chassis
range

Struc Week
Range

536

ED

E400V6

2021-2023

-

202037-202316

536

EH

E400V8

2024-9999

-

202327-999952

536
536

ER

E400V12

2024-9999

-

202317-999952

K9

BK9KERS

2023-2023

-

202222-202316

536

L1

BL1KERS

2023-9999

-

202222-999952

2022-9999

-

202142-999952

Sales

Body

Gear

539

Steer

Model Year

Plant

SERVICE:
If the customer receives one of the following responses from Google Assistant, there may be an
issue with Google Assistant Voice Commands:
•
•
•

“oops, something went wrong”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite get that”
“Can’t reach the internet. Trying offline.”

Please note: There are additional responses that could point towards an issue with Google Assistant.
As a first step, please ensure the vehicle has the most up-to-date Google Assistant application
version. Please see the attached “Fault tracing of Google Assistant” document for method of looking
up Google Assistant version. If outdated, Google Assistant can be updated through the Google Play
Store.
If the issue persists on the most recent Google Assistant version, please utilize the attached “Fault
tracing of Google Assistant” document as an initial reference for troubleshooting, and follow the
“Tips & tricks” section for next steps.
In addition, for Google-specific issues please submit feedback to Google through the “Send
feedback to Google” feature in the vehicle. Please reference TJ 36657 for instruction on how to use
this feature.

Warranty claim info:
No warranty claim is accepted for this TJ. TJ is just for informational purposes.

VEHICLE REPORT:
Yes, please submit a Vehicle Report if the service solution described in this TJ has no effect. Use
concern area “Vehicle Report” and sub concern area “Support needed”, use function group 3900.

To view TJ attachment continue to next page. This TJ has one attachment.

Page 2 of 13

2024-06-26

Fault tracing of Google Assistant
Google Assistant
Troubleshooting
The Assistant can’t be triggered, i.e the voice plate does not show up
The voice plate shows but there is no transcription
There is a mix of languages
Tips & tricks
Reboot the IHU
Change profile
Restart Google Assistant
Permissions
Check version
Personal results
Show notifications
Pre-grant notifications
gToS
Assistant logging and Sherlogs

Google Assistant

When the Assistant is triggered, a so-called voice plate shows up showing the state of the
Assistant and a transcription of what the user has said.
The state of the Assistant is indicated by a coloured bar in the bottom of the voice plate:

●
o When the Assistant is listening to the user input the colors are animated.
When it stops listening (i.e the microphones turn off) the animation stops
and the colors are static.
Earlier, the appearance was different, Google is rolling out the new design in steps so both
designs may co-exist for a while. This is the old design:
●

o The Assistant is processing the question from the user, or is speaking. The
microphones are not activated, meaning that it will not listen to any user
input.
●
o The bars are moving up and down, meaning that the Assistant is listening to
the user input.

●
o The voice plate shows a transcription of what it heard from the user.
● Add voice plate with yellow and red bar

Troubleshooting
The Assistant can’t be triggered, i.e the voice plate does not show up
Try other possible ways of triggering it:
● by voice (Hey Google/Ok Google)
● by pressing the speech button on the steering wheel
● by tapping the microphone icon on the center display
If one of them works, try it a couple of times more and then try again with the method
that didn’t work and see if it’s ok now.
The voice plate shows but there is no transcription
The Assistant seems to be listening (i.e the voice plate shows the coloured bar) but there is
no transcription of the user utterance and the Assistant is not saying anything.
● The bar should be moving while the user is speaking. If it’s not, it means that the
Assistant is in listening state but the microphones are not activated for some reason.
To test the functionality of the microphones, pair a phone and initiate a phone call. If
the receiver can’t hear anything it’s the microphones that are not working.
There is a mix of languages
The Assistant might reply in another language than the user is speaking, or mix the
languages while speaking.
● Make sure that the language settings in Settings/System/Languages and
Settings/Google/Google Assistant/Languages are matching.

Tips & tricks

There are a few things to try to get the Assistant up and running again.

Reboot the IHU

Do a reboot of the IHU by pressing and holding the home button of the center display for 20
seconds. The CSD will go dark and then start up again showing the Volvo logo. Possibly, this
restart needs to be done a couple of times.

Change profile

Log out from the active profile and switch to another one. If the Assistant works as intended
in the other profile, switch back to the first one. If it still doesn’t work, delete the failing
profile and create a new one.

Restart Google Assistant

In Settings/System/Applications choose Google Assistant. Press Force stop and Clear cache
and storage. Try using the Assistant again.
The storage contains user data, and one storage is saved per profile. Includes information
specific for that user, and is, for example, used as a base for creating useful suggestions on
what the user can do .
Cache contains RAM data, and is cleared when the IHU/DHU is rebooted.
Data corruption can be solved by clearing cache and storage.

Permissions

In Settings/System/Applications choose Google Assistant, check that all permissions
required by Google Assistant are allowed.

Check version

In Settings/System choose Privacy/Show all apps/Google Assistant:

The version number is written on the last line but it’s grayed out and can be a bit hard to
see. To see it better, choose the Storage and cache menu:

Personal results
Allow Assistant to read notifications

If the user wants the Assistant to read out SMS they need to allow for the Assistant to read
and respond to notifications. In the Settings menu, choose Google:

Make sure that “Read and respond to vehicle notifications” is activated:

Pre-grant notifications

To be able to ask the Google Assistant to read out new messages, the user has to grant
permission for the Assistant to do so. It is possible to grant the permission using voice,
instead of having to open the correct menu on the CSD and grant the permission there.
When asking the Assistant to read a new message, it first checks that it has permission to do
so. If not, the Assistant will ask if you want to give it permission. By replying Yes, the user
agrees to this.

gToS

To be allowed to use Google apps (Google Assistant, Google Maps, Google PlayStore,
YouTube), the user has to agree to Google Terms of Services, gToS. During the set-up-wizard
process the user is asked to agree to ToS, but if they don’t they will regularly be reminded to
do so. Until the user does this, the icons for the Google apps will be grayed-out to make it
clear for the user that they are not activated. When tapping on one of the grayed-out icons
the reaction depends on the pre-conditions:

● at standstill (gear in Parked or Drive mode): Google Terms of Services will pop up,
covering the whole screen. The user can choose to Accept or to close the
notification. When accepting, all Google apps will be activated and the icons are
enabled. If the user chooses to close the notification without accepting, the Google
apps icons will remain disabled and grayed-out.
● when driving: a toast will be visible on the top of the CSD, saying “After your drive,
agree to Google’s services”. I.e, it’s not possible to agree to gToS while driving
because of driver distraction restrictions. The apps will hece remain disabled and
grayed-out.

Assistant logging and Sherlogs
Update Google Assistant
Start with updating…….

Turn off hotword

It is possible to turn off hotword recognition (Hey Google/Ok Google), so that the Assistant
is not triggered when someone in the car says the hotword.
Go to Settings/Google/Google Assistant and turn off “Say Hey Google”:

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