Google detailed a couple of new features making their way to Android devices in a blog post towards the end of last month. It included features like Password Checkup, message scheduling, a dark theme for Google Maps, and more. The post also highlighted a couple of new Android Auto features, like custom wallpapers, voice-activated games, launch screen shortcuts, and a new split-screen mode for cars with wider screens. While some of these features are already live for several Android Auto users, the company has now started rolling out the new split-screen support on cars with wide-screen head units.

According to a recent post by Reddit user u/My_Name_Is_Taken, the new split-screen layout has now started appearing for some Android Auto users. As you can see in the attached screenshot, the new layout shows two apps at the same time, with the primary app taking up a larger portion of the display on the left and the secondary app taking up a comparatively smaller portion on the right. In this particular instance, the Spotify app can be seen on the left while Google Maps is on the right.

Android Auto Split-screen mode

A comment from Reddit user u/heresyfnord confirms that the split-screen mode also lets users switch the position of the apps. Simply put, your current primary app will always appear on the left and the second app on the right. So, all you need to do is switch to a different app and it will appear on the left, and the previous app will automatically move over to the right side.

While the split-screen mode is only available on wide head units by default, there is a workaround to get it on smaller head units. As user u/kv1dr points out, you can use an app like HeadUnit Reloaded to modify the resolution of your Android Auto head unit, and the new split-screen layout should start working as intended. In case you don't have a wide-screen head unit, you can download HeadUnit Reloaded by following this link.

Android Auto Developer: Google LLC
Price: Free
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