Google announced at CES 2024 a new feature for electric vehicle drivers that will monitor and display real-time battery information in Google Maps.
Google announced at CES 2024 a new Android Auto feature for EV (electric vehicle) drivers that will record and display real-time data about their battery in Google Maps, new additions and features to Google built-in and Android OS, and more.
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The feature, available in electric vehicles with Android Auto, features a secondary interface that runs on the user’s phone and wirelessly communicates and displays features like navigation, media and messages from the Android-based smartphone on the vehicle’s display. Here, Android Auto actually shares battery data with Google Maps, Guemmy Kim, director of product and user experience for Android for Cars, wrote in a blog post on Tuesday.
While most modern electric vehicles provide drivers with information about their charge status, integration with navigation isn't always available or clear. Android Auto bypasses the navigation used in the car and displays Google Maps instead.
After an electric car driver enters a destination into Google Maps, the feature will give an estimated battery level upon arrival, suggest charging stops along the journey, and show how long charging will take based on the vehicle.
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The new Android Auto feature will roll out in the coming months to Ford's Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning models , with more electric vehicle brands to follow in the coming months, according to Google.
Google built-in: New trip planning features, the Chrome browser, and the Weather Channel app were also added.
Google built-in is an in-car services product that, unlike Android Auto, is built into the vehicle itself. Google built-in is offered in vehicles running the Android Automotive — an increasingly common practice among automakers. The Android Automotive OS is modeled after Google’s open source Linux-based smartphone OS. But instead of running on smartphones, Google has adapted it for automakers to use in their cars.
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Google has offered an open version of this operating system to automakers for some time. But in recent years, car manufacturers have been working with the tech company to natively integrate the Android OS , which is built-in with all of Google's apps and services, like Google Assistant, Google Maps , and the Google Play Store, as well as third-party apps like Spotify.
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Polestar and Volvo were among the first automakers to have Google built-in. Nissan , Ford , and Lincoln will also launch models with Google built-in this year, and Porsche is expected to follow suit in its future models.
The company said that starting today, drivers of vehicles with Google built-in can send the trip they have planned on their smartphone using Google Maps directly to their car. The feature works for smartphones running Android or even Apple 's iOS .
Google announced that it has added the Chrome to select Polestar and Volvo cars in beta. The browser will be available for other vehicles with Google built-in later this year.
The Chrome browser cannot be used while the vehicle is moving. Instead, it is intended to be used when the vehicle is parked – and especially for electric vehicles while they are charging.
Cars with Google built-in will also receive PBS KIDS, Crunchyroll and the Weather Channel.
Source: techcrunch
