We’re getting closer to a world where in-dash touchscreens aren’t infuriating, slow, backwards pieces of e-trash: Hyundai says its 2015 Sonata will be the first car to hit the market with Android Auto, Google’s smartphone-powered software that brings Android’s quick, intuitive layout to your car’s navigation and infotainment system.
Owners of model-year 2015 Sonatas will be able to plug their Android-powered smartphones (running the latest 5.0 “Lollipop” version of the mobile operating system) into their Hyundais via micro USB cable. Upon first plug-in, users are prompted to download the Android Auto app, which will use the phone’s processing power to pop a pared-down, driver-optimized version of Android’s software onto the in-dash screen.
Essentially, Android Auto (and competitor Apple CarPlay) will take over the car’s touchscreen to control the smartphone apps you’re most likely to use while driving, via a minimally distracting interface optimized for driver voice control. Necessary apps like Google Maps, Google Play Music, voice-activated Google Now (Android’s answer to Siri), and a voice-powered messaging suite will all show up on the dashboard screen, along with car-optimized versions of third-party apps like Spotify, NPR, iHeartRadio, and more; apps that Google doesn’t consider necessary while driving, like email, social media, and games, are all blocked. The phone itself remains locked while it’s plugged in to the dashboard, and since the touchscreen merely operates as an external control to the smartphone, your dashboard stays as up-to-date as your phone, rather than going obsolete with ever new model year. Here’s a video demo from when the software was first announced in 2014:
Hyundai says current owners of navigation-equipped 2015 Sonatas will be able to upgrade their cars to Android Auto for free—either by bringing their cars to dealership starting today, or by downloading Android Auto to a USB thumb drive from Hyundai’s website later this summer.
The technology giants see the car dashboard as the next big place to grow their mobile software ecosystems. In addition to Hyundai, Google promises Android Auto availability in 28 car brands in the U.S. Apple says its competing, iPhone-powered CarPlay will appear in “every major car brand,” including Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo—but so far excluding Toyota, the world’s largest carmaker, which plans to forge ahead with its own in-dash software.
Both Google and Apple promise widespread availability of their smartphone-powered dashboard software by the end of 2015, with many automakers vowing to support both operating systems. In an ideal world, this means that your next new-car purchase could play nice with whichever smartphone you prefer. Now if only we could convince holdouts like Toyota to play along.
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