{"id":251789,"date":"2026-05-21T15:58:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T19:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/google-showed-me-the-future-of-android-auto-and-now-i-dread-my-own-car\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T16:30:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T20:30:19","slug":"google-showed-me-the-future-of-android-auto-and-now-i-dread-my-own-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/google-showed-me-the-future-of-android-auto-and-now-i-dread-my-own-car\/","title":{"rendered":"Google showed me the future of Android Auto – and now I dread my own car"},"content":{"rendered":"

Google showed me the future of Android Auto – and now I dread my own car<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/google-io-android-auto-demo\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-05-21 15:58:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.zdnet.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Kerry Wan\/ZDNET<\/span><\/p>\n

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source<\/span><\/span> on Google.<\/p>\n

My first thought after demoing the upcoming Android Auto features at Google I\/O this week was the dread of going back to my own car, innocently parked on the other side of the country.<\/p>\n

I’ve been an Android Auto user for years now, and while I’d like to think that I’m one of the more fortunate drivers who’s experienced only a few connectivity problems, the AI takeover across all of life’s consumer tech products has given me hope for something greater.<\/p>\n

Also:\u00a0Everything we saw at Google I\/O: Gemini 3.5, Android XR glasses, Spark, and more<\/strong><\/p>\n

A YouTube video player on the dashboard isn’t that, to be clear, but many of the other new Android Auto additions, like self-generated widgets and immersive navigation, should make a big difference to my driving experience. Here are my first impressions of the latest features, set to launch later this year.<\/p>\n

A more contextual appearance<\/h2>\n

It’s one thing to hear Google explain all the Material 3 Expressive changes that decorate the upcoming Android Auto interface, but it’s another to actually sit in a car with the software running.<\/p>\n

\"Android Kerry Wan\/ZDNET<\/span><\/p>\n

Case in point: seeing Google Maps, the new three-panel layout with smart home controls, and a video player that automatically minimizes to audio-only on a Volvo EX60 spoiled me. You can even stack your own prompt-generated widgets for a tailored experience. For my demo, a Google employee created a weather widget that clearly indicates whether the weather is suitable for running and biking.<\/p>\n

I’m more of a “summarize the traffic for my commute this morning and find a local bakery for a quick bite” kind of guy, but that’s the beauty of custom widgets. Here’s to hoping they can meet our creative demands.<\/p>\n

Also:\u00a06 Android Auto apps I wish I found sooner, because they make every drive easier<\/strong><\/p>\n

Notably, elements on the screen fit and flow more seamlessly, with round-edged designs and color theming that make the car interface feel more…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Google showed me the future of Android Auto – and now I dread my own…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":251790,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/a\/img\/resize\/5a17e39c946bc8c51344a8257d494b637e61d18c\/2026\/05\/21\/d3fd9bab-c73a-47c7-b0fa-86dd256e5871\/dsc09984.jpg?auto=webp&fit=crop&height=675&width=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[70],"class_list":["post-251789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-android","tag-google"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251789"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251789"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":251791,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251789\/revisions\/251791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}