Android Automotive is the version of Android that installs directly into infotainment systems, unlike Android Auto, which works on cell phones and is projected onto the screen. If you want to try Android Automotive, a good option is to use the official emulator in Android Studio.
At the moment Android Automotive is only present in a handful of vehicles, but whether you are an app developer or want to know what you can and cannot do with it, you might be interested. test it quietly on your home PC. It’s very simple, much more than making it work unofficially on a tablet.
1. Install Android Studio
We’re going to be using the official Android Automotive emulator from Android Studio, so the first step is obvious: get Android Studio. We have already told you several times how to download and install Android Studio on the PC, although the process can be summed up by downloading the installer from its website and following the wizard in which you do not need to. than to press following.
Google added official Android Automotive image support in Android Studio a few years ago, so the process is quite simple, similar to creating a virtual device of an Android mobile or a TV with Android TV.
2. Create your virtual car
With Android Studio installed, you need to open AVD Manager, the place where the emulator’s virtual devices are created. You will find it in the menu Tools – AVD Manager. After opening it, press Create a virtual device, or create a virtual device.
The first step is to choose the device you are going to emulate. You will see that on the left are several lines with categories, where you have to click on Automotive. Normally you will find that there is only one option to choose from, so select that profile and press following, oh following.
Now is the time to choose the Android Automotive image to install on this virtual device. If this is your first time doing this, you won’t get any downloads, so first of all you need to download it.
You can see several different versions, so the choice is yours which version of Android Automotive do you want to emulate. When you have it, click the button Download next to this version, to start the download.
At this point, Android Studio will start download android version Automobile. It occupies more than 1 GB, so it will take some time, depending on the speed of your internet connection. The good news is, you don’t have to do anything else until it’s done – it will download and prepare automatically.
When finished, press Finalize, oh Finish and you will get the last confirmation window before creating your virtual device. There really isn’t much to change here except choose a name for your virtual device. This is completely optional, you can leave the default name if you prefer.
3. Start your virtual car
In the AVD Manager window, you will see that the Android Automotive virtual device now appears, easy to recognize because it has a car icon. press the Play button on your left to start the virtual machine.
Give it a few seconds to boot and you will have your infotainment system with virtual Android Automotive. Although the emulator “skin” has many buttons, they are really an ornament: you can only interact with the screen.
Although the emulator seems to have issues with the size and position of elements, it is fully functional and provide google servicesSo you can try Google Maps or the Google Assistant.
For more concrete tests, tap the options button in the floating menu, which opens the emulator’s extensive controls. Here you will see two tabs related to Android Automotive: Car data Yes Sensor readback.
In Car Data, you can simulate that the car is moving at a certain speed, change gears, activate or deactivate night mode or modify the start state. This is useful because some apps cannot be used when the car is in traffic.
In this same section, but in the tab Properties of Vhal You can change the state of many properties of the car, which could affect applications and the system, such as the battery level, whether a door is open or closed, or the state of the lights.
