Google Assistant at Google I/O 2019

Published in

Google Assistant

4 min readMay 31, 2019

It’s been a busy three days in Mountain View, as thousands of developers attended Google I/O 2019 at Shoreline Amphitheatre this year. Here is an exhaustive recap of everything Google announced about Google Assistant, Actions on Google, and related hardware.

Keynote announcements

Duplex on the web

Google is extending Duplex to the web to help you complete tasks faster. Just ask the Assistant, “Book a car for my next trip,” and it will figure out the rest.

Next generation Assistant

The next generation Assistant will run on-device and answer queries up to 10 times faster, with almost zero latency. It will come to Pixel phones later this year.

Personalized help: Pics for you

Choose your next recipe to try, event to attend or podcast to listen to with Picks for You. This Assistant feature draws from past searches and other contextual cues to give you more personalized results.

Personalized help: Personal references

With a new feature called Personal References, the Assistant will better understand you and reference to the important things in your life.

Assistance in the car: Driving mode

You can now take advantage of Google Assistant Driving Mode when you’re behind the wheel. The new dashboard automatically starts when you’re driving and displays the most relevant activities like navigation, messaging, calling and media.

Nest Hub Max

Google is bringing the Home products and Nest brand together to create a helpful home. They welcomed the newest member of the Google Nest family: Google Nest Hub Max (10-inch screen, premium stereo sound, a camera with built-in Nest Cam features and the power of Google Assistant, Live Albums, Gestures to control the volume, home view dashboard, Face Match). Coming to the US, UK and Australia this summer.

Developer keynote announcements

HowTo Markup & HowTo Template

Google is giving content creators easy-to-use developer tools so in the coming months when you ask, “Hey Google, how do I install a dog door?” you’ll get a helpful step-by-step experience from a trusted source like DIY Networks.

App Actions

The Assistant can now help you do specific things in some of your favorite apps. For example, you can say, “Hey Google, start my run in Nike Run Club.”

Interactive Canvas (developer preview)

Game makers can now take full advantage of developing for Smart Displays’ interactive screens, so you’ll start seeing more games that combine voice, visuals and touch.