Android Auto could add a feature that nobody asked for, but might appreciate anyway

It’s easy to criticise Android Auto for its slow pace of development as Google focuses on driving essentials, making its in-car solution pedestrian in its evolution. But what if Android Auto made the jump to your face by supporting smart glasses?

That might not be as fantastical as you think, after code was found lurking in the latest version of Android Auto by Android Authority. The code makes reference to “Glasses”, with the Hindi version saying “To view navigation on smart glasses, start navigation.”

There are a couple of things to dive into here. First of all, Android Auto is designed to bring the Google experience from your phone into your car. It does that via your smartphone, with most now getting access to this service wirelessly. It allows voice controls – Google Assistant, but shifting towards Gemini – Google Maps and other apps for navigation, entertainment from compatible apps like Spotify, as well as messaging and calling.

That’s all designed to remove distractions and make driving safer, so you don’t need to touch your phone. Instead you can control those functions via voice, buttons on your steering wheel or through the touchscreen on your car. Adding glasses to the mix can only add one element – visuals.

What Google wouldn’t be able to do is create a driving accessory that was a distraction, but it could replicate some form of heads-up display (HUD) or augmented reality (AR) experience. That might sound a little far-fetched, but many premium cars already offer one or both of these options.

Heads-up displays will put road sign recognition, speed and basic navigation instructions into your eyeline. Augmented reality will take this further, using cameras on the car to recognise turnings and have AR arrows point to exactly where you need to turn. You can find this in cars such as the VW ID.7 that I reviewed recently and we know that BMW is planning to go big on AR in its Neue Klasse models in the future.

That’s the sort of thing that smart glasses could bring to the driving experience, but what I find more interesting is the lack of suitable glasses that would give you an augmented reality experience right now. The Xrea1 Air 2 could do this, but could we be looking at a hint of future projects that Google is involved with, like Samsung’s Project Haean – or even a Google Glass replacement?

We've already seen BMW showcase an AR smartglasses experience using the Xreal Air 2 glasses, so it's a possibility, but it begs the question - who wants this on their face when driving?

Taking this a step further, the most recent hints we’ve found in Android Auto have pointed to a deeper integration between Google’s driving app and the car’s hardware. We’ve seen talk of controlling the heating and controlling a car’s radio – but what if this extension into visual systems is about integration with HUD and AR systems in the car too?

This is currently one area where Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are not well served – in many cases, if you want navigation in the HUD you’ll have to use the car’s own navigation system. That also applies to AR systems. While Volkswagen supports input from Android Auto and Apple CarPlay into these systems, many do not.

Perhaps Google is laying the groundwork for deeper integration into these visual systems too, because I'd much rather than the in-car system giving me Android Auto AR than a separate pair of glasses.

Watch this space.