Siri tells me she can't give me directions while I am in the car. how can I fix this

This broke for me on iOS 16. I say "Hey Siri, take me to Mom" (which is in my contacts). Siri responds with "I can't give you directions while you are in a car" (which is a ridiculous response). However, I can type on the screen while in the car, EVEN IF MOVING, and get directions. This is exactly backwards from how it should work for safety!

As maddening as I find this issue, it is a relief to see that others are having the same problem.

I’m currently on a cross country drive, and when I ask Siri for directions to the nearest gas station and it says that nonsense, “I can’t show you that while you’re in the car,” it’s crazy-making and very dangerous.

Please stop answering with instructions regarding how to use maps or the bit about “Driving” in Focus. Neither of these applies.

Please, please—fix this problem!

The above response is not helpful. This is now occurring with the release of 16.2. This defeats the purpose of using CarPlay while getting directions while driving.

CLV

I can confirm that this feature is broken in iOS 16.2. It seems to be intermittent. But too often Siri refuses to get directions for me if I’m referring to a person in my contacts (like, get directions to John Doe). If I simply ask for directions to a street address, then it works.

I spent 4 hours on the phone with apple support about this issue on CarPlay. I had to clear all my settings off (which is a pain) on my iPhone and it still didn't work. While waiting for a call back from support I tried: "Siri give me directions to Jane Doe HOME". That worked. It appears that you now have to say the address type like home or work for a contact to get the directions. This was not a CarPlay issue because the same thing was happening on the iPhone (13 Pro Max) and the support was being tested on the iPhone NOT CarPlay. I have used the address type on CarPlay now for the contact address and it works.

Thanks for this, I need to try it. But that's still silly. If it had multiple addresses it used to ASK which to use. And the contacts I have been trying so far don't have multiple addresses. Plus, the response is utter unhelpful in troubleshooting.

Thanks for reaching out JTgroundhog,

Are you using CarPlay? If so, follow these steps to use turn-by-turn navigation while driving: Get turn-by-turn directions with CarPlay - Apple Support

If you don't have that option, check to see if Siri gives step-by-step directions when you're not driving, for instance, when walking. Let us know what happens.

Take care.