I use Android Auto in a 2023 Mazda 3 that does not have a touchscreen (has only a rotary knob controller) and navigation focus is often frustrating. When an alert pops up, the focus goes to it (OK) but when done and it closes, it lands input focus on the "search" icon I think it is (this is bad...it should go back to where it came from). I usually leave my focus on the icon for reporting hazards, since that is what I am 95% likely to want to do while driving. But it doesn't land back there again after the popup goes away and it's distracting to have to take extra action to reposition the focus where I want it again. The highlight for the focus also needs to be a little more obvious. It's light blue which is consistent with Waze's colors and branding, but the problem is that it doesn't stand out and in a non-touch environment I need it to stand out.

Another thread has mentioned that the alert popup focus also has issues. If you respond immediately to "still there" or "not there", it works OK. But the longer it stays on your screen and the distance counts down, it looks focused but isn't. The input focus gets moved to I think the search icon before the popup has expired and pressing on the car's knob doesn't produce the expected action on the alert popup.

I also have found that I can zoom in/out on the map, but I cannot find any way to move the map up/down or left/right in my non-touch environment. It's either not there or it's totally not obvious how.

Pretty much, go try most of Waze's functionality in a Mazda with no-touchscreen Android Auto for an hour or so and you'll see most of the deficiencies. Input focus is easy in a touchscreen because where the focus is doesn't matter because your finger will move focus and perform the input in one step, but in a non-touchscreen environment the behavior of automatic focus and UI navigation is very important to consider more carefully.