“Hey Google, did you upgrade your AI in my Android Auto?”

Google’s platform for casting audio and navigation apps from a smartphone to a car’s infotainment system beat Apple’s to market by a good while, but that headstart has not always kept Android Auto in the lead ahead of CarPlay. But an upgrade rolls out today—provided you already have Gemini on your phone, now it can interact with you while you drive. What has sometimes felt like a hands-off approach by Google toward Android Auto didn’t reflect an indifference to making inroads into the automotive world. Apple might have its flashy CarPlay Ultra that lets Cupertino take over the look and feel of a car’s digital UI, but outside of an Aston Martin, where will any of us encounter that? Meanwhile the confusingly similarly named Android Automotive OS—a version of Android developed to run with the kind of stability required in a vehicle as opposed to a handheld—has made solid inroads with automakers, and you’ll find AAOS running in dozens of makes from OEMs like General Motors, Volkswagen Group, Stellantis, Geely, and more, although not always with the Google Automotive Services—Google Maps, Google Play, and Google Assistant—that impressed us back in 2021 when we drove the original Polestar 2. In fact, Android Auto hasn’t been that neglected by Google. It got a big redesign in 2019, then support for a much wider array of infotainment screen sizes and shapes in 2023. But it took a couple of years after its appearance on smartphones for the hands-free “OK Google” assistant to be able to cast itself to your dashboard—arguably one of its most useful applications, since it allows the driver to keep their eyes on the road and their hands on the wheel while changing the temperature or setting the navigation or playing media.