- Video and browser apps are “coming soon” to Android Auto
- The apps will only be available when you’re parked
- We should also now see more weather apps for the platform
The Google news just keeps on coming: as we enter the second day of Google I/O 2025, Google has flagged up “new in-car app experiences” for Android Auto, which will include video players and browser apps for the first time.
As per the official blog post, support for both video and browsers is “coming soon” to Android Auto. However, like games on Android Auto, these apps will only work when your vehicle is parked to prevent them from distracting you on the road.
For video players, the roll-out will initially be for Android 16 devices and “select compatible cars”, so it sounds as though this might depend a little bit on the hardware you’re using and the dashboard you’re connecting up to.
Google does mention being able to listen to the audio from videos while you’re driving, but this is still at the “early access” stage for now, and there’s more work to do here for Google, car makers, and app developers.
Take the weather with you
In the same blog post, Google says the weather app category has now graduated from beta, which means they don’t need specific approval to run on Android Auto – look for more weather apps appearing soon.
For cars with Google dashboards already built in (which isn’t many, at the moment), the development is even further ahead: the video app category is now open for submissions, while the browser category is currently in beta.
The blog post also mentions that the Gemini assistant will be coming to Android Auto in the “coming months”, which is something we’d already seen signs of. Eventually, it’ll take over all voice control duties on the dashboard.
Being able to sit and watch a video with passengers on Android Auto would be a very welcome upgrade. For me, web browsing on a car dashboard is less appealing, but it’s good to see the platform being upgraded and expanded over time.
Leave a comment