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Wireless Android Auto is now supported in most of Europe, India, Australia, and more
Support for wireless Android Auto is now rolling out to more regions, including Europe, India, Australia, and parts of Southeast Asia. Read on for more!
Android Auto is basically a way to mirror/extend certain apps from a smartphone in a driver-friendly format to a compatible head unit/display within a car. For this mirroring and extension to happen, the Android smartphone needs to be connected with the head unit, obviously. Initially, Android Auto solely worked through a USB connection. But in April 2018, Google rolled out Wireless Android Auto for Google Pixel and Nexus phones, allowing them to connect to compatible head units through Wi-Fi Direct. However, in addition to having a compatible head unit and an Android smartphone, you also need to be living in a country that supports Android Auto. This list of countries was expanded with the inclusion of 15 nations from Latin America, and now Wireless Android Auto support is being extended to more countries in Europe, as well as to India, Australia and more.
Developer turns a wired Android Auto head unit into a wireless one
A developer has managed to turn a wired Android Auto head unit into a wireless one, connecting his device successfully with the help of an auxiliary device.
Although Android Auto is one of the most used software for modern car head units (alongside Apple's CarPlay), it has a lot of shortcomings. One of the biggest ones being that most Android Auto-powered head units don't have the ability to connect to your device wirelessly. This is set to change, but in order to get wireless capabilities, consumers would have to upgrade their cars or their head units, and probably their phones too. This kind of upgrade is out of most people's budget—and that's the main reason why XDA Recognized Developer Emil Borconi is working on a workaround.
The Android Auto program is constantly growing, with more and more cars taking advantage of it. Due to its limitations, though, Auto is compatible with only a handful of apps -- leaving many awesome music apps out.