Android Auto has a new design that is rolling out to everyone starting today. The new design prioritizes three important goals for drivers: navigating where you’re going, communicating with friends and family, and playing your music or podcasts.
Maps is now closer to the driver’s seat so that you can see where you’re going at a glance. The new media card includes the best of Material You to feature your favourite album art, and the added quick launcher lets you quickly access recently-used apps.
The split screen layout is also adaptable to different screen sizes, so it looks great whether your car has a widescreen, portrait or another size screen.
Depending on your car’s infotainment display size, Android Auto will automatically scale to show the panels for app launcher, notifications, and Google Assistant. If your vehicle has an ultrawide display, these panels will appear on the left. And if the infotainment system uses a vertical display, they will be shown at the bottom.
The new design will ensure you don’t have to go back to Android Auto’s home screen every time you need to access the app launcher.
The main UI will consist of three sections. The first two are navigation and media controls, and the last one dynamically changes to show contextually relevant information like new incoming messages, a clock, and more.
In addition to the new design, it is now easier than ever to complete some of your most frequent needs in the car.
Android Auto is even getting smarter and gaining deeper Google Assistant integration. When you start a trip, you can easily share a link with your arrival time with your friends, you can use one-tap quick replies for messages, and more.
Additionally, you will be able to call your favourite contacts with just a single tap without using your voice.
Google Assistant now provides smart suggestions including missed call reminders, quick arrival time sharing and instant access to music or podcasts.
Cars with Google built-in bring Google Assistant, Google Maps, and more apps from Google Play directly to the car screen without relying on a phone, so drivers can just get in and go.
On-screen shortcuts speed up message replies and calling favourite contacts. Plus, Google are introducing a seekable progress bar for music and podcasts, so you can skip ahead in a song or episode.
Last but not least, starting with the latest Pixel and Samsung phones, you can soon make calls using WhatsApp with Android Auto.
Share your digital car key with friends and family
You can already share your digital car key across Pixel and iPhone to make it easier to give trusted friends and family access to your car. Key sharing is coming soon to Samsung phones, and Xiaomi users will be able to both use and share digital car keys later this year.
And already supported on BMW, digital car key will also continue to expand across more car brands.
