(upbeat music )
Hello, I'm Madan Ankapura.
I’m the product manager for car developer platforms,
and I’m here to share what’s new with Android for Cars.
For over a decade, Google has invested in automotive,
from designing products that helps users in the car with Android
to supporting car manufacturers
in harnessing the power of their data with Google Cloud.
We have increasingly deepened our efforts in automotive.
Through this time, our vision has remained unchanged,
to create a safe and seamless connected experience in every car.
And while driving behavior has been impacted in the past year,
with many people adjusting their commute and staying home,
we have seen people turn to technology in the car more than ever
and we are committed to helping as many drivers as possible.
With the flexibility of Android, and thanks to developers like you,
we have been able to design experiences that are tailored for every drive,
regardless of the type of car,
whether a user has an older car,
is looking to stay connected in their current car,
or is in the market for a new car,
we have an experience to help users on their drive.
Google Assistant Driving Mode
allows drivers to get things done on their phones
with their voice without leaving Google Maps.
This is available in the US today
and rolling out to more countries in the coming months.
In addition to the phone-based experience,
we have two in-car experiences powered by Android:
Android Auto and Android Automotive OS.
Android Auto allows users to connect their Android phone to compatible cars
and access their favorite apps right on the car screen.
This enables users to stay connected on the go,
while focusing on the road.
Despite changes in driving behavior this past year,
Android Auto continues to see strong momentum.
It’s now available in more than 100 million cars globally,
with support from nearly every major car manufacturer.
And we are happy to announce another important one to our lineup, Porsche.
Android Auto will be available on new Porsche cars
starting this summer with the 911.
Porsche has a long history of building iconic sports cars,
so we are excited to welcome them to the Android Auto family
and bring a great software experience into their cars.
In addition to expanding partner reach on Android Auto,
we continue to invest in improving the user experience.
Wireless adoption is growing fast with users and car manufacturers.
Most have already launched,
including Ford, BMW, General Motors and Kia.
And others are in the process of launching wireless connections.
We also rolled out Android Auto to six more countries last month,
making it even more widely available.
Our newest in-car experience
is where Android Automotive OS with Google apps and services built-in.
The entire infotainment system is powered by Android
and users can access Google Assistant, Google Maps
and more apps from Google Play directly from the car screen,
without relying on the phone.
The deeper integration allows for richer experiences
like controlling the car temperature with your voice
or receiving speed limit alerts on your cluster.
Plus all app updates take place over the air via Google play,
allowing for continuous improvements.
This integration is tailored to every car model for a custom look and feel.
Last year, we launched the first car with this in-car experience, the Polestar 2.
It's been very well received by the press and users.
By the end of 2021, Android Automotive OS with Google apps and services built in
will be available to order globally in more than 10 car models
from Volvo, General Motors, Renault and Nissan.
And we recently announced a partnership with Ford
to bring this experience to millions of future Ford and Lincoln cars.
So that’s a lot of momentum,
more cars, more global availability, and more users,
which represents an amazing opportunity for all of you.
Developers are a crucial part of the ecosystem
that we hope to build in the automotive industry.
Without you, none of this momentum would be possible.
We hope you’re excited too, because we need your help
to bring users’ digital lives seamlessly into their cars.
From the beginning, we enabled media and messaging apps for cars,
but one of our most common requests continues to be support for more apps.
Developing apps for cars is very complex.
There are various screen form factors and input methods to consider,
but we need to ensure all apps are built with safety in mind
to help drivers focus on the road.
Our goal is to simplify the process of developing apps for cars.
We want to make the platform powerful
and flexible enough to accommodate all of this complexity
and ensure that you can reuse code
across Android Auto and Android Automotive OS.
The new Android for Cars App Library provides you with a set of templates
designed to meet driver distraction standards
while taking care of complexities and allowing you to customize for your brand.
This helps us lay the groundwork for the future of app development for cars,
beginning with navigation, parking and charging apps.
It’s easier than ever to design a single app for the car
that works across Android Auto and Android Automotive OS.
You can take your phone app and Android support
via the Android for Cars App Library, and then with minimal effort,
you can publish the app on Android Automotive OS.
Our early access partners have successfully published apps
to production on Android Auto,
and we have already seen users driving with these new experiences every day.
This demo showcases PlugShare, a charging app in Android Auto.
With voice-assistance built-in,
users can easily talk to Google to get things done
while keeping their eyes on the road.
Hey Google, find charging stations on PlugShare.
Sure, here’s some nearby charging stations.
We’re also working with early access partners
to bring these new app categories to Android Automotive OS later this year.
Here, you can see an early preview
of how the Chargepoint, Sygic and SpotHero apps
will look on the Android Automotive OS power display in a Polestar 2.
And we want to continue working with developers
to enable more types of apps
on the Android for Cars App Library in the future.
Now I’ll turn it over to Ozge, our UX Lead for car developer platforms,
to talk more about using this library to build apps for cars.
Thank you, Madan.
As Android Auto and Android Automotive OS continue to grow,
we strive to make it easier for you to build apps for cars.
The Android for Cars App Library
enables you to design a single app with the use of templates
and deploy it across in-car experiences.
We've designed the entire library
with mitigating driver distraction as a core principle.
Through comprehensive research
and application of industry guidelines and practices,
we have built a framework that ensures apps are optimized for driving
and use voice where possible.
So you don’t have to become an expert on driver distraction
to develop apps for the car.
Developing an app for the car requires the same set of steps
as building for a phone.
One, design; two, develop; three, test; and four, publish.
Today we’re going to focus on the design phase,
using some of the templates that we built for you.
The first step is defining
which tasks are important for users to perform with your app in the car.
The focus should be on driving related tasks,
as your car app does not need to enable all of the tasks
that are available on your phone experience.
For example, if you’re developing an EV charging app,
a critical task would be finding charging stations nearby.
You may want to start on an app planning view
and add a call to action for nearby to initiate this task.
The next step is planning task flows,
where you choose a sequence of templates that allows users to perform each task.
Strive to keep the journey simple and short.
There are nine templates available today on the Android for Cars App Library
to generate your app flows with.
Later this year, we will introduce Library 1.1,
with a focus on enabling you to create standalone apps
on Android Automotive OS.
For that purpose, we will add two more templates:
sign-in and long message.
And going forward, we are aiming to create feature parity
across Android Auto and Android Automotive OS.
Now let's design a sample flow together.
In the EV charging app example,
landing view is the first screen in the task flow.
It provides starting points for various critical tasks,
including the ‘find and navigate to nearby station’ task.
The second screen is the nearby station list.
Here, the user needs to see a list of stations on a map.
You can use the Places map template to do so.
You may want to list the stations, starting from the closest ones,
and add markers on the map to highlight each station.
For the last step in this flow, the user needs to see details of the station.
We have an informational template for that, the pane template.
Here you can add a button to let the user navigate to the station
by opening a navigation app and another button to start charging
when they arrive at the station.
Once the sequence is complete,
there are a variety of styles to customize your app and each template
to reflect your brand and user needs.
For example, you can show me the data that tells users
about charging station availability.
To make that information more prominent, you can use your app’s color scheme
to make a specific picked string pop
For example, you can make the word ‘available’ in the green color.
That’s part of your app’s brand.
And you can customize the navigate button in one of your apps Exxon's colors.
That is it for our sample design.
With the upcoming release of the 1.1, all of the design decisions you make
will carry over to your Android Automotive OS car app as well,
allowing you to design your app once and deploy across in-car experiences.
To help you during your design process,
we published the Android for Cars App Library design guidelines,
where you will find design guidance on templates and much more.
We also have extensive documentation for technical guidance
on building an app with the templates.
Using our emulators, you can easily test your apps without needing a car
and you can upload your app for quality review
and publish directly on the Play console.
We’ve covered a lot, from our continued commitment to automotive,
the strong momentum on Android Auto and Android Automotive OS,
and new opportunities for you to develop apps for cars
with the Android for Cars App Library.
To get started today, visit g.co/androidforcars.
To see some of the latest cars shipping with these experiences,
check out I/O Adventure.
You’ll see a preview of the BMW iX with Android Auto
and the GM Hummer EV with Android Automotive OS
Thank you for joining us today to hear all about what we've been up to
with Android for Cars.
We are excited for the road ahead with you.
(upbeat music)