Google’s Android Auto platform and Apple’s CarPlay will affect future vehicle purchase decisions even more than they currently do, with both remaining popular among car owners, according to a new study conducted by Strategy Analytics. Approximately 33-percent of Android Auto users rely on Google’s solution for navigation and some 27-percent of them use it for media consumption, with both figures being expected to continue growing moving forward, both as the platform finds its way to more ecosystems and as car owners start embracing such technologies on a larger scale, the study suggests.
Vehicle owners who already use Android Auto are largely satisfied with the mirroring ecosystem, with researchers deeming many of them “evangelistic” about the platform. While consumers appear to be relatively pleased with Google’s technology and use cases it enables, automakers remain skeptical about Android Auto, according to reports from early this year. Amazon’s growing Alexa ecosystem and the advent of 5G — a new wireless technology likely to result in significantly redesigned head units — are some of the main reasons sources previously cited as the causes of skepticism about Android Auto in the industry. In a recent interview with AndroidHeadlines, an official from navigation service provider Telenav pointed to the possibility of Google “eating automakers’ lunch” as another concern that’s been widespread in the auto segment in the last several years. While CarPlay and Alexa have previously been associated with similar fears, Google’s ever-growing desire to diversify makes the Alphabet-owned company the largest potential Silicon Valley rival in the eyes of automakers, many industry watchers believe.
While OEMs are hence understood to still have major reservations about embracing Android Auto on a larger scale, they’re likely to eventually do so anyway due to consumers who will demand such a mirroring system unconcerned about the industry’s bottom lines or long-term prospects, the new study indicates. Android Auto celebrated its third anniversary last month and began receiving Google Assistant support in January.