Google's Android for the Automobile Industry

Last night, Google announced its plans to expand Android into the automobile industry. The tech is called 'Android Auto'. It boasts of a complete voice enabled interface which links your android smartphone to the car. The setup uses the phone to run all the apps, while the car's entertainment screen acts as the display. This has the unique advantage of allowing 'Android Auto' to be updated easily and frequently (whenever the phone receives updates).

This system focuses on 3 important aspects that a person is concerned with while driving a vehicle - navigation, communication and music. 

A user may engage navigation by voice command, which will run Google maps. Similarly, Android Auto reads text messages aloud and allows you to reply to these messages by voice too. You can even tell it to play music from your smartphone. All this without lifting your hands off the steering wheel!

Already, 40 auto companies have joined hands with Google for this technology including Audi, Honda, Hyundai, Chevrolet, Ford and Fiat to name a few. The first production vehicle running Android Auto is expected to make its debut by the end of 2014.

Apple too has developed a similar technology for its iPhone users, called CarPlay, which will be a direct rival to Google's Android Auto. This kind of connectivity for smartphones has certainly taken the phrase 'eyes on the road, hands on the wheel' to a new level.