The Biggest Android for Cars News From I/O: Waze, YouTube, Games, and More

If you don’t own a car with Google built-in or use Android Auto, you may not realize that Google has massively expanded its in-car experiences in recent years. At Google I/O today, the company shared that their Android Auto will be available in nearly 200 million cars by the end of this year and that those with Google built-in should more than double. That’s wild.

So because today is Google I/O day, they made several related announcements beyond the numbers for all of those running Google in their cars. Here’s the quick breakdown:

• YouTube comes to Google built-in cars: I didn’t realize this wasn’t already there, but YouTube will join the Google Play Store for cars with Google built-in, starting with Polestar and Volvo cars “in the coming weeks.” YouTube is available for others to offer it as well
• Waze is here too: Waze is rolling out for Google built-in cars as well, but to everyone, not just Polestar vehicles
• Waze EV features: Speaking of Waze, it’s also rolling out EV charging station support to show stations that support your EV plug type and up-to-date charging info validated by the Waze Community
• Google Assistant smart suggestions: These were already on Android Auto, but they will soon be on Google built-in cars too (“next few months”), allowing you to easily respond to messages
• GameSnacks to Google built-in: People apparently love to game in their cars on Android Auto, so Google is expanding GameSnacks to Google built-in as well. There are a million gamers through it on Android Auto already
• Cisco, Microsoft, and Zoom: Google is working with those three partners to add Android Auto support for car conference calls. No release date mentioned, only that they are working on it

I need a car with Google built-in I think.

// Google