A new comment and code commit found in the Chrome OS Gerrit suggests that a merger of Google Assistant and the native notification are of the platform are to be merged. The merging is aimed to make the notification the one area where you interact with all your notifications and Assistant and could be paving the way for a broader Google Assistant rollout in the platform.
Today, Google Assistant is only available on the Google Pixelbook and has both a dedicated button to access (although it can be configured to respond to “Hey Google”) and a dedicate area where it pops up when accessed. There is a screenshot after the break for those that don’t have a Pixelbook.
Here is where Google Assistant shows up today when accessed on a Pixelbook.
Google Assistant in Chrome OS
As all Chrome OS users will know, this is nearly the exact opposite location of where notifications are shown in the platform.
Chrome OS Notification Area
Having everything in once place would mean that all notifications, Assistant or otherwise, are in once place for you to look. From a user experience perspective, this makes a lot of sense.
As I’ve said many times before, reading these commits is a bit of fortune telling. There is no way to know when or if it will be implemented but the indicators are strong it will be. The follow up question then becomes when and that is a complete unknown. As far as I’ve researched, this isn’t even available in the Canary channel so we are talking post Chrome 70 in all likelihood. That means a Q4 launch 2018 at best.
