Google captured one more huge automaker in its journey to turn into the default operating system for cars. Honda will before long start carrying out vehicles with Google’s implanted Android Automotive OS, which includes Google’s voice-activated Assistant, Google Maps, and other auto supported Android applications as the default infotainment.
The first Honda vehicles with inserted Android will begin carrying out in 2022. The Japanese automaker wouldn’t say which models it hopes to get the new infotainment systems first.
“We will collaborate with Google to better integrate Google in-vehicle services in our vehicles including the ability to more-easily use features like Google Assistant, Google Maps functionality and other in-vehicle apps offered through Google Play,” a Honda spokesperson said in an email.
All things considered, Android Automotive is particular from Android Auto. The previous is the car’s default infotainment system, controlling everything from music to navigation to heating and air conditioning, while the last is projected from a cell phone onto the vehicle’s dashboard show and fills in as a contender to Apple’s CarPlay. Google likewise had various declarations with respect to Android Auto (that you can find out about here).
There are just two vehicles accessible today with installed Android Automotive: the Polestar 2 and Volvo XC40 Recharge. Yet, Google has made arrangements with various different automakers, including Ford, General Motors, and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, that will bring about large number of future vehicles delivered with default Android operating systems.
The news that Honda is joining the Android Automotive party will not come as a total shock, considering that the automaker’s current operating system has been Android-based for quite a long time. Honda was likewise important for the Google-drove Open Automotive Alliance, alongside Audi, Hyundai, and chipmaker Nvidia, which zeroed in on the mix of Android into in-car infotainment.
In any case, it can likewise be an slippery slope. At first, vehicle organizations appeared to need to avoid large tech organizations as much as possible to keep them from tapping into the lucrative customer data streams all through their vehicles. However, Honda figures that by letting Google in the hood, it can presumably offer more vehicles to clients who might lean toward a more smartphone-like in-car experience than the OS programming right now given by the automaker.