Yes, Android is coming to cars. Google has taken phones and tablets. Through Nest, it has gone in homes. Why not cars you may ask. And the famed company is answering that challenge with a new partnership with Fiat.
Google and Fiat has announced they will show off a Chrysler 300 sedan that uses the Android open source platform at CES, the annual consumer electronics show in Las Vegas, Fortune reports. The collaboration aims to show off how an Android operating system might look and work in a vehicle—even if the automaker has its own infotainment system.
But note that Android Auto and Android are different. And here is how:
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Android Auto is an in-car software platform that brings the functionality and feel of a smartphone to the vehicle’s central screen. Android Auto is in cars, but it’s not an operating system; it’s the HMI layer—or a secondary interface—that sits on top of the operating system.
Meanwhile, Android is a mobile operating system that runs on Linux and is designed for smartphones and tablets. The new version of Android called 7.0 Nougat was updated to be dashboard-friendly, meaning it makes it easy for automakers to use it to create an infotainment platform for their cars.
This new generation of Android is meant to allow automakers to more easily use the open source operating system to create a customized, turn-key infotainment system that controls HVAC, navigation, AM/FM, media streaming, Bluetooth calling and media streaming, multi-channel audio, and digital instrument clusters.
