One of my favorite Google products is Android Auto. It’s made my work commute and long road trips so much more enjoyable. Having your favorite audio apps and phone on a big screen in your car is amazing.
Google continues to invest and bring new features to the platform. Users are beginning to report that the latest update is allowing them a split-screen mode on widescreen car headunits.
According to some folks in the AndroidAuto subreddit, this new display option is going live via server-side updates on devices. The app itself hasn’t seen an update since February 25, but Google often makes options like this available on the backend.
The new split-screen presentation is similar to Apple’s CarPlay in that it gives your last-used app the left side of the screen and another secondary option on the right. The left portion is pretty much what the standard Android Auto UI shows on any app now and the smaller view on the right is more like what you’d see on your phone in portrait.
There’s currently no compatibility list or minimum requirements officially offered by Google. The Reddit crowd has come to the conclusion that for now, anything with a display of 7″ screen or smaller will not have this split mode enabled. This is kinda a bummer for an owner of a 7″ Pioneer head unit, but this could just be a trial run by Google in hopes of expansion to other sizes at a later date.
What do you think? Do you like the look of this new Android Auto mode? Are you seeing this new option in your car? Let us know in the comments.
