The Tool Desk
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Change the vehicle icon from the navigation screen
The vehicle picture is a navigation avatar, not a permanent profile image. Google’s documented controls appear only after navigation is active, so changing a similarly named vehicle setting elsewhere in Maps will not change the marker that moves along your route.
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Use the documented selector
- Open Google Maps on your phone.
- Enter a destination, choose a driving route, and tap Start to begin navigation.
- Look at the moving marker on the map. If the standard marker is showing, it is a blue arrow. If an avatar is already selected, it appears as a vehicle.
- Tap the blue arrow or the current vehicle icon. This opens the driving-avatar chooser.
- Swipe left or right across the available driving avatars. The number and type of choices can vary by account, device, app version, operating system, and rollout status.
- If color choices are displayed, tap the color you want for the selected avatar.
- Tap Done to apply the selection and return to navigation.
The change applies to the navigation marker you see on the map. It does not alter your saved car information, engine type, charging preferences, or any account-level vehicle record.
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Repeat the same process while navigation is running. Tap the current vehicle, swipe until the arrow appears, select the arrow, and tap Done. Google says the arrow can be selected again at any time; you do not need to delete a vehicle profile or change an EV setting to get it back.
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What the color control changes
When the chooser offers color swatches, the color belongs to the selected driving avatar. Pick the avatar first, then pick its color, and finish with Done. If no color controls appear, there is no documented setting that forces additional colors to appear; use the options shown in your chooser.
Identify which problem you actually have
“The wrong car icon” can describe several different situations. Use the table below before changing unrelated Maps settings.
| What you see | What it usually means | What to do first |
|---|---|---|
| An unwanted car, truck, or other avatar is visible during navigation | A different driving avatar is selected. | Tap the current vehicle, choose another avatar or the arrow, then tap Done. |
| Only the blue arrow is available | Your current chooser does not expose additional avatars. | Use the arrow. Availability of extra choices is not guaranteed for every device or account. |
| You choose the arrow, but a vehicle returns in a later session | A reported persistence problem; the reviewed sources do not establish its cause or a universal fix. | Use the documented selector again and send feedback if the behavior continues. |
| Your saved engine, EV model, plug type, or charging information is wrong | This concerns Your vehicles, not the on-map driving avatar. | Edit the vehicle profile only when you need to correct those vehicle details. |
If the selected icon keeps reverting
Google’s help instructions explain how to select an avatar and how to return to the arrow, but they do not publish a special repair procedure for a choice that repeatedly resets. That distinction matters: a repeated reset is not evidence that a particular unofficial step will fix every phone.
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Confirm that the selection was made in the right place
Start a real driving navigation session and tap the marker itself. A setting page for a saved vehicle, an Android or iPhone system profile, or a CarPlay display is not the documented avatar selector. Choose the icon while the map is actively giving directions, then tap Done before ending navigation.
Repeat the supported selection once
After confirming the correct screen, select the arrow or preferred avatar again. If it remains selected for the current session but changes in a later session, record exactly when the change occurs: after force-closing Maps, after switching accounts, after an app update, or only when navigation starts in the car. Those details make a feedback report more useful, but they do not identify a confirmed cause.
Do not treat unverified workarounds as guaranteed fixes
An October 2025 Google Maps Help Community thread describes an iPhone user whose red car returned after selecting the blue arrow, including after restarting and reinstalling. The thread documents a user report; it does not prove why the reset happened and does not establish that reinstalling, restarting, changing permissions, disconnecting CarPlay, or clearing another setting is a general solution. Those actions can affect other app behavior, so they should not be presented as the supported repair for this specific symptom.
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Report the behavior through Google Maps feedback
If the chooser opens but your selection does not persist, use Google Maps’ in-app help or feedback channel. Include your phone model, operating-system version, Google Maps version if visible, whether you selected the arrow or a vehicle, whether the change worked for the current trip, and what happened when the next navigation session began. Feedback is a reporting route, not a promise of an immediate repair.
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When extra vehicle choices are missing
There is no requirement that every Google Maps installation display the same set of avatars. A September 2025 community discussion included a Product Expert saying that additional iPhone icons were still rolling out at that time and suggesting feedback when they were absent. That is dated community guidance, not a current official availability policy or a guarantee that a particular icon will appear on your device.
Use the options that are actually shown
Open navigation, tap the arrow or vehicle, and swipe through the complete chooser. If it contains only the arrow, select the arrow and continue navigating. If it contains a limited set of vehicles, choose from that set. Do not change your engine type or EV profile in an attempt to unlock avatars; those controls serve a different purpose.
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Describe missing choices precisely
When reporting missing avatars, say whether you use an iPhone or Android phone, the country or region in which you are using Maps, and whether the chooser shows only the arrow or a smaller group of vehicles. Availability can change as features roll out, so a report made in September 2025 should not be read as a statement about every device in October 2026.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Keep the driving avatar separate from “Your vehicles”
Google Maps has a separate area called Your vehicles. Google documents it for information such as engine type and, where supported, electric-vehicle make, model, year, trim, compatible plugs, and related charging or battery details. These records can help Maps calculate routes or charging information; they are not the picture used as the moving navigation marker.
Use “Your vehicles” for vehicle data
Edit the saved vehicle profile when the engine type, EV model, model year, trim, connector compatibility, or charging information is inaccurate. Those changes belong to the vehicle-information feature and should be made for routing or charging accuracy.
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Use the navigation marker for the on-screen picture
Tap the arrow or vehicle during an active route when you want to change the visual marker. Changing a saved vehicle from an internal-combustion car to an EV, or changing a plug type, will not restore the blue arrow and will not select a different driving avatar.
A practical troubleshooting path
Follow this order so you do not alter settings unrelated to the icon.
- Start navigation. The documented selector is on the active navigation screen.
- Tap the marker. Tap the blue arrow or the current vehicle, not a saved-vehicle profile.
- Inspect every available choice. Swipe left and right; a partially visible card can hide additional options.
- Select the intended marker. Choose the arrow or a vehicle, select a displayed color if desired, and tap Done.
- Test the current session. Confirm that the marker on the map changes immediately.
- Test a later session. End navigation and start another route when convenient. Note whether the same marker returns.
- Classify the result. If it works, no further action is needed. If only the arrow exists, you are seeing an availability limitation. If the selection reverts, treat it as an unresolved persistence issue and report it.
- Keep unrelated settings untouched. Do not edit engine type, EV details, permissions, CarPlay connections, or account vehicle records solely to repair the icon; the reviewed Google instructions do not prescribe those changes for this problem.
Why the blue arrow may be the best fallback
The arrow is Google’s standard navigation marker and remains an official choice even when additional avatars are unavailable. It communicates direction without implying that Maps has identified the exact physical vehicle you are driving. Selecting it is also the documented way to undo an avatar selection.
A vehicle avatar is cosmetic. It does not change route selection, turn-by-turn instructions, traffic data, map accuracy, GPS behavior, or the vehicle information used by EV-related features. If your concern is route suitability for an EV, correct the saved vehicle and charging details separately; if your concern is only the picture on the map, use the navigation chooser.
What the available evidence does—and does not—show
- Google’s official instructions establish the tap, swipe, color-selection, and Done workflow.
- Google says the arrow can be selected again at any time.
- An October 2025 community thread records an iPhone report of an avatar returning after the arrow was chosen, even after a restart and reinstall.
- A September 2025 Product Expert comment described extra iPhone icons as still rolling out at that time.
- Neither community item establishes a universal cause, a guaranteed workaround, or a current device-by-device availability list.
- The documented vehicle-profile controls are separate from the navigation avatar.
Accordingly, the reliable action is to use the selector on the navigation screen. For missing or reverting choices, the most accurate expectation is that availability and persistence can vary, and that feedback is the appropriate escalation when the documented control does not behave as expected.
Quick Recap
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