Swedish electric car brand Polestar was among the first to adopt Google’s Android Automotive multimedia platform. This includes the same suite of applications as an Android phone, adapted to the automotive context, even if the actual offer was until now rather limited. This should change in the coming months.
Google announced in mid-May that a major update for Android Automotive was in the near-term plans. To the existing Google Automotive Services, which includes already very popular applications, including Google Maps, the Google Voice Assistant and its Play Store application store, other services will soon be added.
Among these, two video-on-demand applications will be offered to American customers of Polestar, as well as Volvo, Ford, Acura, Buick and other brands some models of which use the Android Automotive system. The newcomers are Max, from HBO, and Peacock. The Angry Birds game, very popular in mobile version, will also be included de facto on the screen of the vehicles concerned.
Obviously, these new features will only be functional when the vehicle is stationary, to avoid any distraction for the driver while he is on the road. Only the Porsche brand has managed to overcome this limit. The central screen of its Macan EV has a protective film that prevents the driver from seeing the screen when the vehicle is moving. The passenger will be able to entertain themselves while the vehicle moves.
New categories of applications
Because a car is not a phone, the Android Automotive system limits the types of applications that can be installed on board to five categories: media, navigation, places of interest, home automation and online video.
New categories should soon be added to the platform. Games, web browsers, weather apps are already in beta mode and should be made official soon. Google will also add a communications category, for video calling services like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or Meet (also from Google).
The latter could benefit from the possibility of pairing a keyboard, a mouse or even a stereo headset via Bluetooth to the vehicle’s multimedia system, to offer more advanced functions than calls. Here again, it will be necessary to ensure that the vehicle is not in a risky situation to carry out tasks more typical of an office than of a passenger compartment.
Photo : Polestar
Polestar 4, habitacle
Android Auto distinguishes itself
Many motorists were familiar with Android Auto when Google and some automakers announced the creation of Android Automotive, a multimedia system directly integrated into the dashboard. Android Auto is in fact just a form of on-screen mirroring of the dashboard of certain applications contained on your phone.
The arrival of Android Automotive has created a bit of confusion among some motorists, so much so that many are wondering if this is the beginning of the end for Android Auto. However, this is probably not the case.
In fact, Google is also working on updating this interface to more natively include car-sharing applications, such as Uber. This would allow Uber Drivers to display information about their trips directly on the screen of their vehicle, rather than doing it on their phone, attached to a base which is itself stuck to the dashboard.
We will soon know which automobile brands and which applications will be the first to benefit from these two updates. In the case of Android Automotive, it is a safe bet that Polestar vehicles will be the first to inherit it, since the Swedish brand did not hesitate to adopt this system from the launch of its first consumer model, the Polestar 2 sedan.
The launch of the Polestar 3, an SUV derived from this compact sedan, would be a good time to present this update from Google Automotive…
