Google has some new Android Auto features in the pipeline, including support for app widgets on the dashboard as has been discovered in the latest updates.
Android Auto’s dashboard redesign from a few years has slowly evovled in the time since, but there are more features on the horizon. From a light theme to some form of AC controls, Google has plans to expand on what its platform can do.
In the latest update to Android Auto, there’s new evidence of a few more features in the pipeline.
That begins with support for app widgets on Android Auto. As Android Authority found, Google is preparing support for using Android homescreen widgets on the Android Auto dashboard, with the widgets taking the place of the existing media control widget. Through the Android Auto app on phones, users are able to pick widgets and fine-tune the size for your car’s display. Currently, the feature is referred to as “Earth,” which is likely just a codename to be used during development.
As these screenshots show, this functionality is clearly in its early days and far from complete.
As for how app widgets appear on the car’s display through Android Auto, they look just as you’d expect. The homescreen version of the widget display directly on Android Auto and takes up the space currently occupied by media controls.
The main limitation it seems, for now, is that the widgets aren’t fully interactive. Media controls in a Spotify widget work, but tapping the album cover apparently reads back an error message saying “this can’t be accessed on Android Auto.”
The other thing to keep in mind is that, as mentioned, this appears to be in its very early stages of development. So it’s hard to put any stock into how it works and what widgets are available. Google will almost surely limit what widgets can and cannot be displayed on Android Auto.
Still, this is very exciting! Especially seeing as Apple added widget support to CarPlay recently.
Beyond this, Android Auto appears to be working on some other improvements. In the strings of Android Auto 15.6, we noticed that Google is updating Assistant shortcuts to be compatible with Gemini.
Meanwhile, it was also found that the stock media control widget is adding support for multiple music apps at once. Currently, the controls are limited to one app at a time, defaulting to whatever the last app was. As shown in the video below, updated functionality would allow for swiping between active apps.
Of course, none of this is live yet and, knowing how long Google tends to work on new Android Auto features before actually releasing them, it might be a while.
Android Auto 15.6 just released into beta this week, and that’s where these new features were found in developement. The current stable Android Auto update is v15.4, which also just started rolling out more widely in the past few days.
More on Android Auto:
Follow Ben: Twitter/X, Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
