Google is working on an Android-powered infotainment system

Rumors that Google is working on an Android-powered infotainment system for cars started popping up a couple of days ago, which confused a lot of people, because doesn’t the company already have Android Auto? I can understand how that might confuse you, but Android Auto is actually designed to work on top of the infotainment system that a car already has built in, but now Google wants Android to be the infotainment system itself, and it’s doing this with something called Android Automotive. 

Google has made it clear many times already, they want to have Android everywhere. And it appears that Android Auto isn’t enough Android in the car. Google wants to be the backbone of the infotainment system. Not just a “plug and play” option that is built on top of many of the car makers systems already. While we’ve had Android Auto for a little while now, and we’ve tried it with a few different cars, it’s not a complete infotainment system. Google wants to power your entire infotainment system with Android. And some references in the Android Compatibility Definition Document or CDD, seem to back that claim up. If Google does indeed make their own infotainment system, one that’s more robust than Android Auto, which is said to be called “Android Automotive” right now. It’s going to be a bit tough to sell this to car makers. There are already some car makers out there who haven’t gotten into Android Auto because they don’t want to give all that info to Google. Of those auto makers are Porsche, Ford and Toyota. While Android Automotive would be great for Google’s own self-driving cars, I have a hard time believing that this is just for their own cars, and not for other cars on the road right now.