Bring your IOT apps to cars

Posted by Brad Hinkel, Product Manager, Android Automotive Developer Platform

To deliver seamless experiences in cars, we’re now enabling developers to bring their internet of things (IOT) apps to cars. This will allow users to easily manage IOT systems like home security and doors directly from their car. You can now launch IOT apps to production for both Android Auto and Android Automotive OS.

IOT apps

You can start building your IOT apps for cars using driving-optimized templates from the Android for Cars App Library.

The Automotive OS emulator for Android Automotive OS and the DHU for Android Auto allow you to easily test apps for this category. To start building your app for the car, check out our updated developer documentation, car quality guidelines, and design guidelines. For additional instructions on building IOT apps, visit here.

Drivers of cars using Android Auto can now download IOT apps developed with the Android for Cars App Library immediately from Google Play. Additionally you can join the Google Group for new beta apps and opt-in to new app's beta on the Google Play store, with your Gmail account.

Experience for yourself how your app will look within the different systems, by accessing the OEM emulator system images downloadable in Android Studio.

To publish your app today, follow the below steps.

Design your app’s experience using our developer guide and app quality guidelines.

Develop using the latest release of the car app library so you can get user feedback from now.

Test using the desktop head unit.

Publish your app to Close or Open testing to the Google Play Store to get pre-production feedback from users.

Ship your final app to cars.

We’re excited to see what you’ve built and take it for a spin!

If you’re interested in joining our Early Access Program in the future, please fill out this interest form. You can get started with the Android for Cars App Library today by visiting g.co/androidforcars.