Not sure what everyone else is doing, I use Android Auto constantly for work on a lot of rental cars without issue. The bugginess is probably crap cables or old phones, check those.

Well that’s presumptive. I use a Pixel 7 in a 2022 vehicle. When I plug it in I have to open the USB settings EVERY TIME and switch to MIDI before it recognizes the device. I have bugs with Waze, and my music will pause regularly with no connection issues.

This is more of a workaround than a fix, but you can change the default USB configuration in the developer settings.