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androidandroid-autoandroid-automotive
geethuth
geethuth

Reputation: 103

What are the differences between Android Automotive, Android Auto, and Android for mobile phones?

What are the differences between Android Automotive, Android Auto, and Android for mobile phones (from a user perspective and architecturally / technically)?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 1177

Answers (2)

gral.pancho.villa
gral.pancho.villa

Reputation: 326

Technically, there are (or were) four car-computing solutions from Google:

  • Android Auto, the projected car interface and CarPlay competitor. You plug a phone into a car to get a phone-powered UI on the car display. Again, not shutting down.
  • Android Auto for phones, which had a similar interface but displayed on a phone only, for people without compatible cars. This one is dying.
  • Android Automotive, which is an Android infotainment OS. Manufacturers work with Google to load Android directly onto the car hardware. The first such vehicle to feature the service was the Polestar 2.
  • Google Assistant driving mode, which, like Auto for phones, is another phone-based custom driving interface for people without specially outfitted cars.

Note: Android Auto for Phone Screens will no longer work on a device running on Android 12 as confirmed by Google. Instead, phones running on Android 12 can use Assistant's Driving Mode. On older devices, though, you can still continue to use the Android Auto for Phone Screens app.

Upvotes: 2

adek
adek

Reputation: 3121

They are different products.

Android Auto - to simplify things - you can think about it as an app which runs on your phone, an app which is streaming (casting) apps to your car's unit. Android Auto runs on your mobile phone, all apps are casted from your mobile phone.

Android Automotive - it's open source OS (just like standard Android) but it is created for manufacturers. They can build with it the whole infotainment system. It can be heart of your vehicle. Every manufacturer can use it differently. So it's like standard Android but for cars.

But also looking at standard Android (for mobile). Using Android (which is open source) doesn't mean you have with it all Google serivces etc. Open Source version of Android Automotive and Android OS (for mobile) doesn't contain Google Services and apps.

Just like in mobile phones - it depends on manufacturer if it will bring Google Services with it.

There are manufacturers using it already with Google Services (Volvo, Polestar) but there are also many using it without Google apps.

Upvotes: 3

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