Android Auto is Google's mobile app that mirrors the features of an Android smartphone, and make them compatible with modern cars' infotainment systems.
It works when users paired their phones with the car, in which Android Auto will automatically mirror qualified apps from the users' device to the car's infotainment system.
It features driver-friendly user interface that aims to not disturb users while driving, while highlighting simplified apps that are most notably include GPS navigation apps, music playback, SMS, telephone and web search. The system also supports touchscreen and button-controlled displays, as well as voice commands.
Android Auto is part of the Open Automotive Alliance that was first announced back in June 2014, as a joint effort between 28 automobile manufacturers, with Nvidia as the tech supplier.
With an increasing number of vehicles that are shipped with capable infotainment systems, the use of Android Auto increases drastically.
It only took the app four months to go up from 500 million to 1 billion. Only six months before that, the app was at 100 million.
In the last ten months alone, the app has seen more than 900 million downloads. That number is 10 times as many downloads as it has in its entire life since 2015.
This is an incredible order of magnitude of growth in less than a year.
But the main reason for the massive increase, is because of Google's very own requirement.
Google has required Android Auto to be pre-installed app on all phones and devices, with or wishing to upgrade to Android 10. In other words, the sharp and sudden rise in downloads didn't mostly came from people who were suddenly downloading the app, but because Google is starting to force it to be pre-installed on all Android 10-powered devices.
This is a clear indicator that an increasing number of devices are running Android 10, although Google has stopped publishing platform distribution numbers that would otherwise prove it.
