Update: I cover Android Auto v3.1 and my BMW S1000XR here. If you haven’t read the earlier article about using a smartphone for motorcycle navigation, then you should start here.

Google I/O

At the 2016  I/O conference, Google announced that Android Auto would expand from a headend unit-centric solution to a mobile phone-centric solution. This will let drivers whose cars do not support Android Auto to have a similar experience directly on their mobile phone. For motorcyclists, there’s a similar benefit because Android Auto now can be used on the motorcycle.

Key functionality that I was looking forward to included:

• a simplified launcher for driving supporting landscape mode
• integration of vehicle data similar to the BMW Motorrad solution on the Garmin GPS
• ability to use natural language at any time to control the phone and associated services like Google Assistant (“OK, Google”) within the headset (SHO-1)

When Android Auto v2.0 arrived in November 2016, it brought the simplified launcher including landscape mode. There is also support for voice control independent of my SHO-1 (but no hotword pass through with the SHO-1). Vehicle data plugins will have to wait.

Core Functionality

The new version of Android Auto simplifies the UI into five key functions:

1. Directions
2. Communications
3. Music
4. Weather
5. Voice search

Three buttons: directions, communications and music buttons are presented at either the bottom or right side of the display. The buttons are larger than the traditional smart phone UI, which makes it easier for a motorcycle rider to keep his eyes on the road and easier to touch the screen while wearing motorcycle gloves.

My primary smart phone is an Apple iPhone, which has near universal support in iOS apps for landscape mode. Until now, Android app support for landscape mode has been inconsistent at best (and often nonexistent). This includes the lock screen and launcher. The good news is that while running Android Auto, enabled apps (e.g. Google Maps, Pandora, Google Play) support landscape mode far better than their traditional smart phone UI. Unfortunately, the lock screen is still in portrait mode.

Several other nice features are found in the settings menu: auto disable of WiFi and keeping the screen on indefinitely while plugged into the USB charger.

Finally, because Android Auto supports Android OS versions as old as v5.0, you don’t need a new, high-end phone to enjoy the Android Auto experience.

Maps

Google Maps is the only supported mapping engine. This isn’t a problem for me, since I prefer Google Maps. I still have a number of web browser route planning and real-time dragging to reroute functions that I wish Google would support. If you prefer a different mapping engine, such as Here or CoPilot, you are out of luck.

The photo above shows how much easier it is to use Android Auto while riding, particularly with a larger phone (“phablet”).

Audio Programs

Android Auto presents a number of music apps including all my favorites other than Apple Music. These include Google Play Music, NPR One, Pandora and Pocket Casts.

There are some bugs that still need to be addressed, both functionally and in terms of UX. For example, Pandora didn’t let me change channels until I exited the Android Auto app. And, Pandora lets you rate songs but doesn’t let you skip a song without swiping to a secondary panel. I still haven’t gotten NPR One to show any content.

Google Play Music works very well, particularly using Voice Search.

Voice Search

Voice search and natural language assistants are all the rage right now. Apple has Siri. Google has Google Assistant/Home. Amazon has Alexa. Microsoft has Cortana.

Android Auto is the perfect opportunity to showcase the power of Google Assistant. Motorists and riders should never have to press a button on the user interface. All functionality should be exposed via a microphone, activated with the keyword “Hey, Google” (or your preferred wake word). For riders, this is particularly valuable as a safety consideration.

In December 2016, Google introduced the “OK, Google” hotwords for Android Auto. But, as of Cardo SHO-1 software v1.5, there is not a way to automatically passthrough the Google hotword and subsequent commands directly to the smartphone. In Android Auto, I must first press the microphone icon.

For motorcyclists, additional functionality will need to be enabled by Bluetooth headset manufacturers like Cardo to fluidly support this functionality. To date, Cardo has focused on native VOX controls in their headset rather than passing the conversation to the smart phone for interpretation and response. And Cardo does respond when you press the search button on the phone–but the noise reduction algorithms need to be improved: even when I am stopped, with the bike shut off, I need to shout into the microphone to get a response from Google. I suggested to Cardo that they enable wake word functionality in the SHO-1. The customer service representative said he would pass the request on to their product team.

Separately, neither user phrases nor the responses work as expected yet. For example, to create a new route, you need to say “Navigate to [destination]”. If you say “Directions to [destination]”, Google will tell you how far away the destination is but not automatically route you there. And if you ask Google to play a song, sometimes that works (e.g. within Google Music) but other times, it doesn’t (e.g. within Pandora) even when a specific music program isn’t active. Weather requests work well but sometimes are for the destination, not the current location.

There are a number of other usability features that need to be addressed:

• Auto-rotate should be smarter so that riders can use landscape mode without the screen flipping as you go over a hill (right now the only work around is to use portrait-only mode).
• There are different Google voices at vastly different volumes. Part of this might be attributed to the Scala automatic gain control (AGC) but part likely is also due to the type of message by Google (e.g. an internet not available message nearly blasted me out of my seat).
• Something as simple as, “Play the Beatles” created the requested playlist in Google Play Music but each song played twice.

The good news is that all these are software issues that I expect to be resolved in the near future. And, for motorcyclists, it opens up a world of functionality and improves safety in ways that were never possible with traditional dedicated GPS units.

 

Updated on March 14th, 2019