With the update to Android 10 Q, Android Auto will be removed from the Play Store to become a service of the operating system itself. Here’s what changes
Android Auto is set to disappear. No, the folks at Mountain View haven’t suddenly gone crazy and thrown years of work and millions and millions of dollars spent on development into the trash. They simply wanted to simplify the architecture of the operating system by eliminating an app that, in their opinion, had become useless.
With the update to Android 10 Q, Google’s “automotive” platform will be eliminated from the Google Play Store and from the smartphones in which it was installed. Obviously, Android Auto will not disappear completely, but it will be incorporated into the operating system itself, thus becoming a fundamental part of it. It will become one of the many services that the mobile operating platform developed in Mountain View provides in an “automated” way, without the user being asked to perform any operation.
Android Auto goodbye: what happens now
According to the information coming from California, Android Auto will be incorporated by Google Assistant and will take the name of Assistant Drive Mode. A novelty already preannounced during the Google I/O 2019, the conference dedicated to developers during which are usually announced the most interesting news of the year. In this way, the Android platform dedicated to cars will be available on all smartphones that will be updated to Android 10 Q, with no more compatibility problems that could arise in the past.
Once the operating system update is installed, to start Android Auto will be enough to connect the smartphone to the car and wait for the system to be synchronized. No more apps to launch and, therefore, apps that become effectively useless. In order to save space in memory and avoid possible misunderstandings, Google developers have therefore decided to eliminate it permanently.
A decision, however, that also has negative implications. Until now, in fact, it was possible to launch Android Auto “on command”, thus having the possibility to continue using the infotainment system of your vehicle even if your smartphone was connected via USB to the car. With Android Auto becoming part of the operating system, however, this will no longer be possible and alternative solutions will have to be found.