Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are the two major players in the infotainment systems in the automobile market. Both of them have significantly improved their accessibility, entertainment, as well as navigation in vehicles.
However, the most convenient part of the operating systems is that they maintain a similar UI from car to car. Users do not have to spend extra time digging into the operating system that each car vendor offers.
Both Google and Apple keep adding fresh features to improve the user experience. Many new features have been added to Android Auto this year after, they were first announced in the summer I/O 2022 event.
Now, you might have access to both systems often and might be confused to choose one. While both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay have their sets of pros and cons, they also have differences that can make either operating system a deal breaker for some users.
The most used features of navigation systems such as Android Auto and Apple CarPlay include voice assistant, navigation, calls, along with notifications. Both OS have integrated features to guide and provide users while trying these basic tasks out. There are a few key differences between their implementations.
As the names suggest, users require to have an Android smartphone with Android 8.0 Oreo or later to be able to use Google’s car navigation system.
If you wish to use Apple CarPlay you should have an iPhone 6 or above with the latest version of the app installed.
Google vs Siri
Apple CarPlay is equipped with Siri, while Android Auto packs Google Assistant, and as expected the latter is far superior.
Google Assistant has better voice recognition, and it provides relevant results, on top of the robust support for other first-party as well as third-party apps, for example, Google Maps and Spotify.
Google Assistant in Android Auto has also recently received a massive overhaul with the summer 2022 update, making it the better choice.
Google Maps vs Apple Maps
Yes, Google Maps is available on both operating systems. You can use Google’s advanced global navigation system with the voice assistant on Apple CarPlay, which is available as a third-party app.
Apple Maps despite its recent upgrades and improvements still has some catching up to do when compared to Google Maps. Additionally, worse location identification over voice makes Apple Maps a deal breaker for many.
Notifications
Google & Apple’s navigation systems show calls and notifications on the car’s display while driving. This can inherently be considered inappropriate and dangerous by many; sadly, however, the feature cannot be turned off.
However, Apple’s implementation of notification pop-ups can be distracting as they appear at the bottom of the screen. This notification hides vital navigation info below it. Thankfully, Google takes a more subtle approach, it displays the notifications at the top of the screen.
While reading a notification or accepting a call the trend continues, as CarPlay takes up a lot of screens, whereas Google displays the current navigation info or any background task. Google does this while keeping the notification info or calls controls on a small banner in a corner.
This article might be looking like, Apple’s CarPlay is outclassed in every way, however, that’s not true. CarPlay has a bunch of features in the software UI department. Despite that, however, Android Auto is still the superior choice.
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