Apps designed for driving experiences
Helping drivers while on the road - whether they are navigating, listening to music, or checking the weather - is a top priority. We’re continuing to invest in tools and resources, including the
Android for Cars App Library, to make it even easier for developers to build new apps or port existing Android apps over to cars.
New capabilities for navigation apps
Today, we
announced Waze rolling out globally on the Google Play Store for all cars with Google built-in, expanding its availability beyond Android Auto. As a part of this launch, we created more templates in
Android for Cars App Library to help speed up development time across a number of app categories, including navigation.
For navigation apps, it’s also now possible to
integrate with the instrument cluster, providing turn-by-turn directions right in the driver's line of sight. And developers can also access car sensor data to surface helpful information like range, fuel level, and speed to provide more contextual assistance to drivers.
The Waze app is coming to all cars with Google built-in, including the first-ever Chevrolet Blazer EV launching this year.
Tools to easily port your media apps across Android for Cars
Media apps continue to be a top use case in the car, and it’s quicker than ever to
bring your media apps to Android Auto and Android Automotive OS. Audible recently joined popular streaming audio apps like Deezer, Soundcloud, and Spotify to offer their apps across both Android Auto and cars with Google built-in. If you have a media app on mobile, port it over to reach new users in the car.
New app categories for driving experiences
The Android for Cars App Library now allows developers to bring new apps to cars including internet of things (IoT) and weather apps to cars. The IoT category is available for all developers, while weather is in an early access program. In the weather category, The Weather Channel app will join other weather apps like
Weather & Radar later this year.
We’re also working with messaging apps like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Webex by Cisco to allow you to join meetings by audio from your car display in the coming months.
Apps designed for parked and passenger experiences
With screens expanding in size and more being added for passengers, there is growing demand for parked and passenger experiences in cars.
Video, gaming, and browsing in cars
Now,
video and
gaming app categories are available in the car, with an early access program for browsing apps coming soon. YouTube is now available for car makers to offer in cars with Google built-in. And drivers of cars with Google built-in will soon have access to popular titles like Beach Buggy Racing 2, Solitaire FRVR, and My Talking Tom Friends from publishers like Vector Unit, FRVR and Outfit7 Limited. Developers can now port their large screen optimized apps to cars to take advantage of this opportunity.
More screens in cars allows for new experiences between drivers and passengers, including individual and shared entertainment experiences. We're excited to announce multi-screen support is coming to Android Automotive OS 14 — stay tuned for more updates.
android-developers.googleblog.com
