Bigger is better
Say goodbye to pillar boxes, and other screen-fitting solutions for your car.
Enlarge / The many sizes of Android Auto.
Google / Ron Amadeo
Android Auto, Google’s car interface app for Android, is getting a new, more flexible design at Google I/O. Android Auto used to require a very rigid screen aspect ratio. It could not handle things like large, vertically oriented car screens and would often resort to pillar boxing or letterboxing the UI to keep a reasonable layout. Google claims that the new panel design allows for an interface that can adapt to any screen size.
Google says that “there are three main functionalities that drivers prioritize in their cars: navigation, media and communication,” and the new Android Auto design puts each of those interfaces in its own panel. Maps is the largest, with the main panel and media panels stacked together. There’s also a combo status/navigation area. These items can be placed in any orientation that works best for the car to accommodate the millions of screen sizes.
One example, close to the current Android Auto configuration, shows the combo bar oriented vertically against the side of the screen, followed by a