We just got to spend a week with an Android Auto car (our huge review is right here), and as part of our research to figure out how it works, we ran into quite a few things that are in the app but don't work yet. Android Auto houses non-functional interface mock ups for several new features, along with a whole host of sensor code that Google hasn't talked about.

What Google really intends to do with these is anyone's guess, but it's rare that Google ships non-functional code that doesn't someday become functional. So while we're personally not guaranteeing anything, this could be a peek into the future of Android Auto.

Roadside Assistance and Vehicle Service Screens

Ron Amadeo

Ron Amadeo

Ron Amadeo

Ron Amadeo

Ron Amadeo

Ron Amadeo

Ron Amadeo

The "Car" screen of Android Auto—launched via the right most "speedometer" icon—is pretty lame. Today when you open it you get a single button to exit Android Auto, and that's it. Considering the background of this screen is called "oem_apps_bg," we're guessing it will eventually house OEM-specific features, but right now there really aren't any. Google has bigger plans for this screen though, and you can see some of them if you turn on developer mode. The car screen then populates with four new options! The Car screen then turns into something like an app launcher, serving as a jumping off point to several other screens.

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Android Auto finally gets Waze integration—in beta, at least View more stories In Android Auto, Google included interface mockups for On-Star-style services like vehicle diagnostics and roadside assistance. Screens for "Roadside Assistance," "Vehicle Check," and "Service History" can all be launched in developer mode. Unfortunately, these screens are all non-functional—they're just pictures. Someone on the Android Auto team spent time on them though, maybe as a future concept or as something to pitch to car companies.

The Roadside Assistance app would give the driver the ability to call a tow truck, complete with an estimated wait time to receive assistance and your current location. The mockup shows one-touch access to call the tow company, and there's a mysterious "i" button that would probably provide information about the company coming to rescue you.

"Vehicle Check" will hopefully save you from needing roadside assistance, as it seems to be an integrated vehicle diagnostic screen.Information on tire pressure and wiper fluid are in the picture, along with a notification to change the oil soon. It would be really nice if this showed up on Android Auto's overview screen, as well. At the top is a link to schedule service at the dealership, but from what we've seen Android Auto would have no way to perform this task. There's no web browser or calendar—maybe it would be by phone? We don't think this one has been fully thought out.

Service History is a checklist log of maintenance that has been performed on the car, broken up by specific mileage intervals. Traditionally this would be handwritten in the back of the manual, but digitizing it seems like a fine idea. This screen seems to be from an older version of Android Auto—the scroll button is on the wrong side.

The final option is the "More Car Apps" screen, which is a list of all the activities associated with Android Auto. You can see that nearly everything starts with "projection.gearhead"—the Android Auto app's package name—except for the first two, which are Google Play Services and Google Maps. Most of it is very basic stuff that just maps to the system functions like Phone, Overview, Media, and Voice Search, and tapping on them will just launch those screens. The one hidden thing is the "input.RotaryImeService" which would allow Android Auto to be controlled with a physical d-pad.

A sizable series of secret sensors

While browsing the decompiled Android Auto code, we came across the entire list of "Car Sensor Events" that the Android Auto app listens for. This is information that would presumably be received by the Android Auto Receiver Library running on the car and passed to the Android Auto app running on the phone. While a few of them (Car speed, GPS) are obviously in use, the vast majority aren't being used in an interface. Here's the full list:

Compass

Car Speed

GPS

Night Data

Accelerometer

Gyroscope

RPM Data

Odometer

Environment Data Pressure

Temperature Fuel Level In Distance

In Percentile

Low Warning HVAC Data Current Temperature

Target Temperature Gear Data Park

Neutral

Reverse

Drive

Gears "First" through "Tenth" Driving Status Fully Restricted

Limit Message

No Keyboard

No Video

No Voice input

Unrestricted

Before we dive into the speculation section, let's be very clear here: this is a list of things Android Auto is listening for, not necessarily receiving from the car. We can point to certain features and say that compass, car speed, GPS, night data, and the Park gear all seem to be implemented but many others don't appear to have an obvious use.

The amount of signals here are pretty surprising. While Google may never implement these, the sensors being listed in the code show that at least some effort was spent in implementing them. With the "RPM," "Speedometer," "Odometer," "Gear Data" and "Fuel Level" feeds, you could build a whole virtual gauge cluster! Current and target temperatures for the HVAC system could be used for on-screen air conditioning controls.

"Driving status" is particularly interesting. The "No keyboard" mode could be what shuts off the Google Maps keyboard when you shift out of park, but there are apparently also modes to turn off voice input and limit messages. There's also a "No Video" mode, despite Android Auto not showing any video. Could Android Auto someday turn into a general-purpose Android device while parked?

Finally, while no ever reads the legal information that is buried in these apps, but if you take a peek at Android Auto's "Safety and Legal information," Google claims it can detect "whether the passenger seat is occupied." As far as we can tell, Android Auto does not do anything today with passenger seat detection. In our review we complained that the Android Auto interface seemed like it was designed only for a single driver going 60mph down the road, but knowing whither the passenger seat is occupied could let Android Auto kick into a "co-pilot" mode and unlock more functionality.

For version one, Google covered the basic functionality you'd want in a car computer. All of these hidden items point to work being done on even more car integration, with more affordances for non-driver activities. Given how much better the Android Auto interface is over the car's built-in UI we've seen, we'd love to see Google's interface take over more of the infotainment duties.