kagete

Android Auto is better designed, more intuitive, receives more updates, less distracting, faster, and effectively safer than almost all other car infotainment systems I have tried (including Apple Carplay). It combines Google integration (including "OK Google" voice prompts) and if you are deeply immersed in that ecosystem there are a lot of benefits. I've typed some below really quick, but I think this would be a living list that will always get updated with pros/cons monthly.

• Google Maps or Waze Navigation from the home screen or voice prompts
  • Easy one-touch navigation to Home or Work, recently searched restaurants
  • Appointments or Emails with locations will suggest two-touch navigation destinations as well
    • Gmail knows your have a flight on a certain date because of the itinerary email you received, and will suggest navigation to the Airport, by a certain time of day, in order to reach it with time to spare for going thru security before your flight.
  • Recently searched restaurants or destinations will get navigation suggestions as well
• Pressing the steering wheel voice prompt button or simply saying out loud "Hey Google" allows you to control everything
  • You can say at anytime while driving "OK Google, what is the weather" or "How is my day", etc.
• Easy podcast and music controls for third-party apps that don't need to be explicitly coded for Android Auto
  • You can say at anytime while driving "Hey Google, play the latest Freakonomics podcast" or "Play Cranberries"
• Voice recognition for calling/texting/replying to phone contacts is way better than every other competitor, even outside the auto industry.
• +/- Google WILL track your every move on the map such as distance traveled, traffic encountered, stores visited, etc.
  • This information is used for improving map directions, search results, live traffic updates for other drivers, etc.
  • I think most people that are power users of GMail and Apple devices are aware of this already though. They may not know the exact extent of the information collected, but rest assured, we have signed off on giving that away a long time ago.
• - Google may eventually push ads to Android Auto users. Amazon already does this.
  • Note that Google is already "preferential" in where it sources news updates,music, and podcasts.

Allen K

iTrader: (4)

Yeah mine usually takes ~20% if I'm not plugged in because I'm streaming music at the same time and I tend to burn through battery once I get to work so I try to keep it at 100% for my commute

Agree that wireless charging + BT AA would be great!

UDel

It is not really important and don't really care about either, makes no difference in my vehicle purchase, nice to have at most if I would ever use it but I mainly just listen to Sirius or CD's/MP3's.

Lexmex

For new cars, I would like to have it. My fiancé recently upgraded her 06 4Runner with Kenwood system with it and she needed the integration for her work for texting and calling, plus it integrates with a map app she also needs for business.

Frog98

My Macan has no navigation, but has Carplay. No more nav updates. Apple maps gets me where I am going. Win/Win.

Toys4RJill

Would think pretty hard about moving to the Honda brand. Looks to me like a good feature to have. I tried it out on a Civic and it is a no brainer Heard BMW is going to make you subscribe.

MattyG

Google's privacy policy provisions. If you're ok with it fine, if not then don't sign up:

We collect information in the following ways:

• Information you give us. For example, many of our services require you to sign up for a Google Account. When you do, we’ll ask for personal information, like your name, email address, telephone number or credit card to store with your account. If you want to take full advantage of the sharing features we offer, we might also ask you to create a publicly visible Google Profile, which may include your name and photo.
• Information we get from your use of our services. We collect information about the services that you use and how you use them, like when you watch a video on YouTube, visit a website that uses our advertising services, or view and interact with our ads and content. This information includes:
  • Device informationWe collect device-specific information (such as your hardware model, operating system version, unique device identifiers, and mobile network information including phone number). Google may associate your device identifiers or phone number with your Google Account.
  • Log informationWhen you use our services or view content provided by Google, we automatically collect and store certain information in server logs. This includes:
    • details of how you used our service, such as your search queries.
    • telephony log information like your phone number, calling-party number, forwarding numbers, time and date of calls, duration of calls, SMS routing information and types of calls.
    • Internet protocol address.
    • device event information such as crashes, system activity, hardware settings, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request and referral URL.
    • cookies that may uniquely identify your browser or your Google Account.
  • Location informationWhen you use Google services, we may collect and process information about your actual location. We use various technologies to determine location, including IP address, GPS, and other sensors that may, for example, provide Google with information on nearby devices, Wi-Fi access points and cell towers.

ABC

Pretty much a must have for me going forward.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

to me it's not a 100% deal breaker but i highly expect our next car to have it. it's the norm and future

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

apple's is just worded in a "we're nicer and care more" way

https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/en-ww/

drgrant

I'll be "that guy" although I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I don't buy cars for geegaws. I buy them to drive... I want most of my money going to mechanicals, performance, reliability!

as far as "infotainment" goes, all it needs to do is have the following:

-BT audio streaming (from phone, etc)
-BT audio speakerphone (for phone calls)
-Stereo that sounds decent
-Not crash constantly.

Pretty much every Lex produced in the recent past will do this... and some of the older ones can be
retrofitted in the aftermarket.

Now, having said all that... would it be nice to have google maps etc in the car directly? Sure... but it's just gravy- not a core purchase decision.

-Mike

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

UDel

I am not really into using companies and services that aggressively collect your personal data they should not have. Very 1984. Google and Facebook are some of the biggest offenders.

UDel

And Apple purposely slows their older products/systems down when they are "updated". I am sure Windows does the same thing though.

Toys4RJill

I would be highly skeptical of Apple does not collect personal data.

I used to be a big fan of Google. I really like their services a lot. When my Google phone decided to break, I was given a new iPhone as a gift. I could not exactly say I did not want it. To be honest, I do not miss any of the Google stuff whatsoever. I do not miss being told where my car is parked. Don't miss my emails being read. Don't miss being told the time and distance to a favorite location. I thought I would. From my understanding, all of this stuff can done on iPhone as well via Google and Google cards apps or whatever its called. . I have Google maps installed and if I press down on the app it will tell me how long till home or work or wherever. Overall, none of this stuff matters to me. Now, what I do like about the new iPhone is that you can Auto Do Not Disturb as the phone shuts off alerts once it is in motion. Pretty sure the new Google phones do that as well, with this feature I now get peace and quiet in the car without ever having to turn on the feature. Note, for the record. The iPhone is not all that great, its on par with whatever else cost $700 or $800 I will say, I did have the iPhone 7 break after 60 days, it turned into a huge fiasco at the Apple store as they did not want to give me a new model, instead they wanted to give me a re-manufactured replacement.