Audi showcases extended Android functions for its cars at Google I/O

Audi is participating in the renowned Google I/O developer conference which goes on for three days (May 17-19) at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California. The conference is considered to be the largest and most important developer conference in the global software industry.

Audi is presenting its concept of a next-generation infotainment system that comes fully-integrated with Android. In addition to the work being carried out by a number of Android platform developers for seamless integrated solutions in car infotainment applications, Audi is all-set to present its Q8 sport concept technology platform that has more Android functions than what’s in their current models.

So what’s new here? For now, the new functions include the music streaming service ‘Spotify’, Google Play Music and Google Assistant. All these Android-specific features will show up on the large MMI touch display that will take up prime position in the centre of the dashboard. What’s more, this information will also be visible on Audi’s virtual cockpit instrument panel and makes it even easier to view. Likewise, the in-built navigation map continues to use the HERE database, but this time around, the user can also choose to navigate with Google Maps. Audi claims that this is the first time that these new services have been fully integrated into Audi’s brand-specific infotainment system. 

Sources in the Android fraternity believe that a seamless integration of Android into in-car infotainment systems has a huge potential, thanks to the tremendous popularity of this platform worldwide. Let’s see what the future has in store for us.