Android Auto appears to be moving closer to supporting Material You colour themes from your phone.
The change has appeared for some Android Auto users, and within the 14.9 beta.
Android Auto is the choice for many drivers, providing that seamless bridge between car and phone. It looks like there's going to be more personalisation coming to Android Auto that's going to make a material difference.
That's because Android Auto 14.9 (which is still in beta) supports Material You colours. Uncovered by 9to5Google, Android Auto will pick up those Material You colour themes that come from your wallpaper. That means that things like shades in switches will match your phone.
This doesn't apply to all themes you might apply to your phone, only those that come from wallpapers, giving a little lift to the visuals you'll see in the car, but mostly around the settings menu and notifications.
One of the biggest changes to personalisation came with the adoption of your phone's wallpaper, which landed at the end of 2023. That adds another level of personalisation (something that Apple CarPlay doesn't match), but it can be a little weird when a segment of your vertical wallpaper is applied to your horizontal car screen (which most are).
Sadly, the ability to independently customise Android Auto isn't an option.
The roll-out of this new feature isn't completely straightforward, with some Android users reporting that they've seen it, while others can only access it through the beta. When I checked my own car, there was no sign of it.
It's a minor detail for now, while we wait for some of the bigger changes that are expected, such as the Gemini experience in place of Google Assistant, the expansion of games and other entertainment when cars are parked, as well as deeper integration into the car as a whole.
While Apple took a big step into gaining more control over a car's screens with CarPlay Ultra, there have been signs within Android Auto that it's going to be seeking out deeper integration with a car's existing systems.
That is likely to include things like radio hardware and USB drives - for more music options from within Android Auto - while we could also see climate control support on some vehicles too.
While Android Auto seems to be pushing out a number of small changes, there's clearly some big stuff that's in the pipeline that hopefully we'll get to see soon.
