Andy Walker / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Android Auto might soon integrate with smart glasses to show driving directions.
- New code in the latest Android Auto release hints at the upcoming feature.
- The feature could help drivers keep their eyes on the road by eliminating the need to glance at the infotainment screen for navigation prompts.
Taking your eyes off the road to look at your car’s infotainment screen while driving is a recipe for disaster, yet many of us still do it daily while following directions in Google Maps. Although some cars overcome this issue by bringing the navigation prompts within your line of sight, either through a heads-up display or on the screen behind your steering wheel, that’s not the case for the vast majority of the cars on the road today. Google seems aware of this shortcoming and is working on a new Android Auto feature to bring navigation prompts within your field of view, even if your car doesn’t have a heads-up display.
An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
While sifting through the latest Android Auto release (version 14.2.151544), we came across two new strings hinting at the upcoming feature. The strings suggest that Android Auto could integrate with smart glasses to show navigation prompts within the driver’s field of view.
Code
Glasses
Start navigation to launch Glasses Although these strings don’t explicitly mention navigation support for smart glasses, the Hindi version of the “GLASSES_SETTING_TEXT” string provides confirmation. Instead of “Start navigation to launch Glasses,” the Hindi version translates to “To view navigation on smart glasses, start navigation.”
Code
स्मार्ट ग्लास पर नेविगेशन देखने के लिए, नेविगेशन शुरू करें The feature appears to be in the early stages of development, so we’ll have to wait to see whether or not showing navigation prompts in smart glasses minimizes distractions. It doesn’t sound much less distracting than occasionally glancing at the infotainment screen, but it could be helpful if done right. We currently have no information on which smart glasses would support this feature. We’ll keep an eye on future Android Auto builds and update this post as soon as we have more details.
