Along with hyping the newfangled Android L operating system, the mothership had made noises during Google I/O that it was expanding Android OS to other platforms that could be improved by connectivity – such as home appliances and cars. For the latter, Google has now put out a developer document for Android Auto (as in “automobile”) that shows how 3rd party apps would look like in the OS.
Android Auto apps will not really be apps in the universal and normal way that we know them. Most of them will be sort of Android Auto-specific “extensions” of their original apps – kind of like Android Wear apps work not as a separate app for the platform, but specific content that shows when installed on a wearable.
Google has apparently made a strict layout for Android Auto that developers can’t touch – they simply have to tweak their content to fit Google’s frame. The only actions they can do is fill Google’s layout with content, change colors (according to what Google has), and provide text for that interface. They can’t move buttons around, dictate size and placement of elements, or even add additional screens.
Why is Google so strict in this? It probably is because there are a lot of safety issues Google has to consider when making an interface for a car-borne OS. Google has been consulting with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to fine tune the final design for Android Auto so that it's not distracting for the driver. Fair enough. Let’s see how third party devs work around these specifics. Catch the whole developer document at the Android Developers portal here.
VIA: Ars Technica