Yeap, same. I have given up on Android Auto because of that. I am not going to let Google hold my phone hostage so they can force me to pay ransom (with my data.)
I never use a Play Store version of anything I can find on F-droid or other repos I trust. Then I try it using Aurora Store. Only as a last-resort I try Google. Play Store is only for things I cannot obtian or replace another way.
In rural Burma, I had one single sip of green tea offered by a monk friend. I was tired and wanted to be a gracious guest so I happily accepted ... only later did I remember that the water for green tea is not brought to a boil. That single sip of tea cost me 9 days of shitting-my-guts-out misery in a third-world country without access to western medicine. I normally travel with Imodium (Loperamide) but it was illegal in Vietnam, because it is technically an opioid.
It seems likely you are using it tethered, vs wireless.