In May last year i.e. 2018, Volvo Cars has announced its collaboration with Google to embed the voice controlled Google Assistant, Google Play Store, Google Maps and other Google services into its next generation infotainment system based on Google’s Android operating system used in its Cars.

Now in Jan, 2019, Volvo and Google have again announced that a standalone version of Android Auto will come embedded with Volvo’s upcoming all-electric Polestar 2 Vehicle or Car. This Volvo version of Android Auto will work independently of Android phones. It will also be able to control many features of vehicles like cabin heat, which are not controlled by the mobile version of Android Auto. The main advantage of using a full Android based infotainment unit is that Google Assistant can control everything, as per the report on Android Authority. This will allow the car drivers to adjust cabin AC or Heating, cabin volume and also monitor oil levels and gas, all by giving simple commands in place of using touch-screen controls which was the option earlier.
As we said, Google and Volvo announced this collaboration first at Google I/O in May 2018. The separate version of Android Auto will feature an app store and will allow users to search for and download applications. Right now Ambient computing is highly popular in which we use a computer by speaking to it. This became hugely popular due to the arrival of devices like Amazon Echo and Google Home. Recently, Amazon also mentioned that the company’s next major area for Alexa integration is cars as it is the next step for ambient computing. With the partnership with Volvo, Google has accomplished this early and it will allow Google to collect more data so that it can improve Google Assistant’s working in Car. Now analysts predict that Apple and Amazon can also take the similar path and will try to create a more advanced infotainment platform or they will work more on the hardware inside the car for example the existing versions of Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto platforms.
We have already seen the Android Auto working in Volvo at I/O 2018. The OS which runs was like Android Pie. It closely resembles Volvo’s design language. This prototype has a Google Assistant triggering to the vehicle’s steering wheel. This also has music, Google Maps directions and other contextual details on the screen. It is now clear that Volvo is developing the Polestar 2 to compete with Tesla Model 3. This Volvo vehicle has around 400 horsepower and 482 KM of range and it will cost between $53,000 and $66,000 CAD. This Volvo Polestar will be launched this year i.e. in 2019 anytime soon.