Google today announced a significant update to Android Auto, its in-car app for managing entertainment, navigation, and communications.
Google tackled music discovery in this update. Android Auto now features an improved layout with larger album art to make identifying tunes easier. Google Assistant can lend a helping hand, too; the voice search experience has been fine-tuned. Drivers can say “OK Google, play 90s music” and the app will reveal more categorized search results on the screen. These tools are compatible with popular media apps such as Google Play Books, Google Play Music, iHeartRadio, Pocket Casts, and Spotify.
On the communications front, Google has added previews for incoming messages. This optional feature must be manually turned on. It lets people see the first few words of messages so they can determine whether or not an immediate response is needed once stopped.
Android Auto also now supports MMS and RCS, meaning more content will be available within messages, such as group chats.
Google says these features will hit the Android Auto app, free to download from the Google Play Store, over the next few days.
