Google
takes another step toward the release of its in-car infotainment and app
integration software with the announcement and release of an Android Auto API.
This announcement means that developers can start adapting their apps for the
dashboard today. I was able to get some hands-on time with Android Auto from
behind the wheel of a 2015 Hyundai
Sonata at the Connected Car Expo preceding the 2014 LA Auto Show.
Currently,
the API only supports two categories of apps for Android Auto integration, but
over a dozen third-party app developers are already onboard with working apps.
There are messaging apps including early partners TextMe, textPlus, Kik, and
WhatsApp. When demonstrated in the Hyundai, these apps didn't
display any text on the screen; rather the body of the message was read aloud
by Google's text-to-speech engine. The driver is then given the option to reply
via voice, without taking a hand off the steering wheel.
The
other supported category is
audio apps which enable simple browsing and audio playback from the car. This
can include music, podcasts, and news apps. Among the first batch of these apps
are iHeartRadio, Joyride, MLB.com, NPR, Pandora, PocketCasts, Songza,
SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, and Umano.
In
the car, these audio apps
look largely identical to one another. Spotify, for example, looks just like Google's
first-party Play Music app, but with green accents instead of orange and with a
slightly different list of options
that slide out from the screen's left edge. Google tells us that it is aiming
for consistency and simplicity in Android Auto and that it wants its drivers to
always know exactly where the onscreen skip and pause buttons are whether
listening to NPR or MLB. This will help them to spend more time with eyes on
the road and less time scrutinizing the screen. Additionally, Android Auto will
be able to take advantage
of steering wheel controls for skipping tracks and voice controls for switching
apps.
Via
voice, drivers will also be able to initiate voice searches and destination
input for Google Maps navigation, listen and reply to incoming text messages,
and initiate telephone calls. Being an offshoot of Android 5.0 Lollipop,
Android Auto also integrates Google Now contextual voice search and displays a
simplified Google Now card interface on its home screen with information about
upcoming appointments, current weather, traffic conditions and commute times.
The demonstrated voice input had just a bit of lag between speech and
recognition, but the accuracy of the voice recognition was excellent even with
our demonstrator's Scottish accent, and even when I stumbled over a few words
while making requests.
Once
it's fully baked and available to the public, end users of Android 5.0 will
enable Android Auto by downloading an app from the Google Play Store and then
connecting to a compatible automobile or aftermarket car audio receiver via
USB. This is similar to how Android Wear users have to download a
controller app to feed data to their smartwatches and means that as this app is
updated via Google Play, the in-car experience has the potential to update and
become more refined.
Hyundai expects to offer
this functionality to drivers of the 2015 Hyundai Sonata alongside
its upcoming implementation of Apple's CarPlay software, which will give its
drivers two cross-platform app-integration options, as well as the built-in
first-party BlueLink software's functionality. Honda Motor Co. has also pledged
to offer Android Auto in its vehicles starting in 2015.
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