New features of Android Auto: Zoom calls to YouTube streaming

First introduced in 2015, Android Auto slowly started to gain popularity in the Android community. It offers seamless smartphone connectivity and provides access to certain apps, directly on the vehicle's infotainment panel. To take things a step ahead, Google announced new features and services for video conferencing, gaming, and Youtube streaming at the I/O 2023 event yesterday. Take a look.

• In today's day and age, smartphones have become an indispensable part of our lives. They allow people to stay connected 24/7, across the globe.
• While this makes life simpler, using your phone while driving is extremely dangerous.
• To address this issue, Google introduced Android Auto as a connectivity feature to provide seamless integration of the phone to the vehicle's infotainment system.

With the newest update, Google has added YouTube to its list of video streaming apps for Android Auto. Previously, only Tubi and Epix Now were available as third-party options to play YouTube videos on the car's infotainment panel. With the addition of the popular streaming app, the company is planning to provide a more cohesive experience to its users.

To keep passengers, especially children, entertained on long journeys, Google is now allowing users to install games on the Android Auto interface. Various titles such as Solitaire, Beach Buggy Racing, and My Talking Tom Friends are now available, along with over 100 bite-sized games within the GameSnacks app. While this new feature is useful, it could possibly distract the driver, when on the move.

Google has disclosed that it is working with Cisco, Microsoft, and Zoom to enable the conferencing function on Android Auto. This means that Android users will be able to join a call directly from their car's display soon. For now, this feature will only allow users to join via audio, as adding video functionality in a car could prove dangerous while on the move.

After integrating the Waze app into its native Maps app in December last year, Google is now planning to benefit from crowd-sourced information from popular navigation applications. This will allow users to access all information regarding the location, before driving over.