Android Auto organizes contextual information into simple cards that appear on the overview screen when they are needed. The German company is now making good on its pledge, as it will be releasing the first 2016 model-year cars that come with CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto later this week. The services are part of a new “modular infotainment platform” (MIB II), which VW said “offers one of the most comprehensive suites of connected vehicle services and features available in the automotive industry today”.
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All this underscores how Volkswagen is stressing automotive infotainment technology, especially integration with Apple, Google, and other third-party companies. The first vehicle with Android Auto will be the Golf R, and it has already started making it to their showrooms.
The good news? Some of these models are less than a month away! The lower end system has a 5-inch, 400×240-pixel resistive touch display, while the higher-end option includes an 800×480-pixel capacitive touch screen, which can range in size from 6.3 to 8 inches.
Volkswagen America’s CEO Michael Horn added, “As the people’s vehicle brand, we knew that it was important to democratize these technologies across the Volkswagen line-up, with features like App-Connect ensuring that more consumers can integrate their smart devices in a wide range of trims on virtually every model the company sells”.
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Snips from Volkswagen’s official announcement stress that CarPlay will introduce several “driver-friendly” apps to the cars’ infotainment systems, allowing owners to get directions and notifications, listen to music, and send and receive messages via the car’s touchscreen, or by Siri. The last of these would be where Android Auto lives (it’s also where its competitors would be found).
