What types of applications do each of them support?

Google likes to complicate our lives and that’s why there are Android Auto and Android Automotive. Android Automotive includes Android Auto, although not all motor vehicles include Google services. If so, we’re talking about a car with Google Built-in. And Auto and Automotive, although they’re called almost the same thing, They are very different technically..

The difference is also visible in apps. Google maintains strict control over Types of apps allowed on Android Auto and Android Automotivealthough here again we find differences between one and the other. We explain why.

The applications are not the same

First, the most important: Android Auto runs on your mobile and is transmitted to your car’s screen wired or wireless. In simple terms, it’s not much different from how you cast content to a stock Google Chromecast: apps run on your phone and display in your car.

In return the car screen can be used as an input device to manipulate apps and the car can share some data with the system like its status (whether it is parked or running) or, soon, FM radio.

Android Auto is a complete operating system that runs in the car and in which applications can be installed. In this case, it would be the equivalent of a Google Chromecast with Google TV, since you can install applications directly on it and not just transmit.

In fact, one of the apps included in Android Automotive with Google Automotive Services (or GAS) is Android Auto Receiver, with which you can use Android Auto in Android Automotive. This is useful because an app may have a version that is compatible with Android Auto but not with Android Automotive. There are also apps available for both, such as Amazon Music (regular version for Android Auto and version for Automotive).

While on Android phones developers can do pretty much whatever they want, on Android Auto and Automotive everything it depends on the modelsThis is why all apps of the same style look the same, especially on Android Auto.

So, whatever multimedia application you use in the car, you They will be practically the same. Apps provide the content to the system, but the design itself depends on the system applying the media application model. Here’s how Google explains it:

While Google and automakers determine the basic visual design and interaction model for much of the in-car media experience on Android, the app developer’s design role primarily focuses on:

1. Create a navigation structure for the content
2. Provide branding elements and icons for navigation tabs and custom controls (if needed)

Installed in the car or on the mobile, the Android Auto and Automotive applications They are very limited in what they can do.being based on models, although these models are not exactly the same in Android Auto and Automotive. In the latter case, car manufacturers can further intervene by radically modifying the operating system (and its models).

What types of applications exist?

Initially, Android Auto allowed us to navigate with Google Maps and nothing else, but over time, Google has opened its hand slightly to allow more types of applications. The same thing happens with Android Automotive.

And what types of apps are allowed in cars? Well, a little more than we might imagine. Right now, the types of apps that Google allows or plans to allow on Android Auto or Android Automotive are:

• Multimedia (audio): These are apps that allow you to listen to audio in the background, such as streaming music, radio, audiobooks, podcasts, or similar. These types of apps are available on Android Auto and Android Automotive.
• Chat and VOIP: These are the applications to receive notifications of messages that reach us in chat applications like WhatsApp. It is possible to respond by dictating the message to the car. For now, they are only available in Android Auto, with the promise that they will improve in the future.
• Navigation: Navigation apps like Google Maps or Waze, which show us the route to follow step by step. As you might expect, they are available on Android Auto and Android Automotive.
• Points of interest: Although it may seem identical to the previous category, it is not. These types of applications are based on displaying places of interest on the map (such as parking lots, charging stations or gas stations). They are available on Android Auto and Android Automotive.

• Home Automation: A category that has been added relatively recently is home automation, to manipulate smart devices such as the garage door, turn on the house lights or activate the home alarm. They are available on Android Auto and Android Automotive.
• Video: These are the applications with which we can watch videos of any type, such as YouTube or Netflix, as long as the car is parked. These types of applications are available in Android Automotive and Android Auto should arrive later.
• Games: Games available when the car is stationary. They are available on Android Automotive in beta and on Android Auto soon, with the exception of GameSnacks, which is pre-installed.
• Internet browsers: Full web browsers, available only when the car is parked. They are available on Android Automotive and Android Auto could come later.
• Time: Apps to view weather forecasts, usually on the map. They are available in beta on Android Auto and Android Automotive.

SO,what types of applications are supported in each of them systems? Here’s a table so you can see at a glance the differences between Android Auto and Android Automotive.

Types considered beta imply that they are being tested with a closed group of developers, so we find very few applications of this style. As for the “coming Soon”, Google unfortunately did not give us a more precise indication of the time it could take.

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