You might remember that back in May, Google showed a pretty major makeover to the Android Auto interface. The design overhaul was originally scheduled for a summer release, but of course it didn’t happen. We have no idea what caused the delay, but it seems to be finally coming to an end as the new UI has started rolling out to users of the public beta.
Unfortunately, a quick glance at the Google Play Store listing for Android Auto reveals that all the slots for the beta branch are already full. This means that if you’re not already a beta tester, you won’t be able to try out the new user interface yet.
New Android Auto UI
Android Auto’s new interface is rounder and cleaner, with larger UI elements and controls. Google’s goal was to make it more readable and make controls more accessible. Split screen should also be much more effective now. Here is a list of some of the major changes in Android Auto.
- Your map will now be closer to the driver in the new dashboard with improved size / reachability.
- The dashboard media card has a completely new look and now dynamically grows and shrinks.
- Now you can make the map fill the entire area of Android Auto, giving users more choices to choose layouts on large screens.
- There’s a new dock app in the guide to make it easier to switch between recent apps with a single tap.
- Other parts of the system have been updated to adopt Material You and modernized UI components and layouts.
- Music and media recommendations can now be accessed from the Google Assistant with a swipe of the dashboard media tab.
- The old status icons and notification center bell have been merged into a touchable and easy to scan area on the track that includes the number of unread messages.
We have no information on when a full version for the Android Auto update will arrive, but we will be sure to keep you updated on any new developments.
Start a new Thread