Android Auto 14.0 Starts Rolling Out, Prepares To Replace Assistant With Gemini

It’s no secret that Google is planning to bring Gemini to Android Auto and, while that’s still not live, Android Auto 14.0 is now rolling out to all users and brings more hints that Gemini is just around the corner.

Following a release in beta earlier this month, Android Auto 14.0 has now started rolling out via the stable release track, meaning that it’s showing up in the Play Store for more users. As per usual, the rollout is going to take a few weeks to reach everyone, but the process begins now.

That said, don’t be too eager to install this new update. While there’s some work behind the scenes as we explain below, we didn’t spot any user-facing changes.

About APK Insight: In this “APK Insight” post, we’ve decompiled the latest version of an application that Google uploaded to the Play Store. When we decompile these files (called APKs, in the case of Android apps), we’re able to see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features. Keep in mind that Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect. We’ll try to enable those that are closer to being finished, however, to show you how they’ll look in case that they do ship. With that in mind, read on.

So what is new in Android Auto 14.0?

This latest update brings more hints that Gemini will replace Google Assistant in Android Auto. There are several image assets for Gemini and Gemini Live, as well as delivering several more strings regarding the new experience.

A new message in Android Auto tells users that “Gemini is now the personal AI assistant in your car,” suggesting that Google will completely swap out Assistant for Gemini. That’s no surprise, as Google announced earlier this month that Google Assistant is going away on smartphones later this year. There are also strings regarding new survey and feedback prompts around Gemini.

Gemini is now the personal AI assistant in your car
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To be clear, none of this is actually live yet. We installed this latest update and tested it out in a vehicle equipped with Android Auto, and Gemini is not yet available. There are also no settings to change.

That said, it’s abundantly clear that Google is on the final stretch in terms of getting this update ready to roll out. That’s especially obvious considering the fact that Gemini experiences are functional when they’re manually enabled.

Timing on the wide release, however, remains unclear.

Google has also added a couple of “hd_radio_logo” files to this latest update, seemingly continuing work on the local media controls we first spotted last year.

In the previous beta release of Android Auto 14.0, we also spotted new controls for defrosting (building on prior work for AC/heating controls) as well as a new toggle related to Google Maps.