Google has expanded support of Android Auto to 18 new countries, including India, Russia, Brazil, Switzerland, and more. Android Auto was launched back in 2014 during Google I/O and allows Android users to sync their smartphone with their car’s entertainment system provided it supports Android Auto. The system lets users listen to music, receive calls, reply to texts, navigate, and more via an interface that uses voice commands through Google Now.
Mahindra was the first Indian carmaker to offer Android Auto services in its vehicles. The company announced that revamped version of the XUV500 and Scorpio will be the first cars in India to come with the service pre-installed. However, not all car manufacturers were so keen to install the service in their vehicles. Porsche chose to install Apple CarPlay over Android Auto in the 2017 models of the 911 Carrera and Carrera S. Porsche said that the reason behind the decision was that Android Auto demanded too much information about their vehicles.