Facebook has proudly announced that Google’s Android Auto now has for its Messenger app. What this basically means is people can now engage in conversations while driving. Facebook has also ensured that Messenger conversations via Android Auto are safe and wouldn’t require drivers to take their eyes off the road.

Facebook announced the new update via its Messenger page on its website on Tuesday. The Menlo Park social media giant recognized in its post that Android Auto has been providing drivers with a means to easily access mobile apps. Thus, it is also bringing its instant messaging service to Google’s car infotainment operating system.

“Android Auto allows drivers to easily and safely access features like navigation, music and messaging while on the road, through a mobile app or a supported built-in vehicle display,” Facebook stated. “The Messenger integration enables people with Android Auto to listen to and reply to messages using voice commands.”

Explaining how this integration works, Facebook stated that users can chat with their family and friends without typing anything as long as they have the Messenger app installed on any of their Android devices. While incoming messages rely on text-to-speech engine for the system to read them to the driver, replying works via voice recognition software. Therefore, drivers can just dictate their response to the app and it will be the one to encode it for sending.

In case the user does not want to continue the conversation, or if he or she does not want to respond to an initial notification, there’s a feature that sends an “I’m driving right now” notification with just a single press on a button.

Facebook now joins the ranks of Spotify, WhatsApp, Google Maps, Hangouts and Skype as apps that work with Android Auto. Messenger’s Android Auto integration is currently available in around 30 countries, and PhoneArena reports that Facebook could be rolling out this feature to more regions in the near future.

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