Mercedes-Benz joins the Open Automotive Alliance

For those not in the know, the Open Automotive Alliance is a group of vehicle manufacturers and tech companies who have joined forces to bring Android to automobiles. Since its announcement at CES in 2014, the group has swayed over the likes of Buick, Dodge, Ford, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Honda, and Kia. Now it looks like Mercedes-Benz is finally joining their ranks, hopefully to bring Android Auto to their vehicle models in the near future.

For a long time, the German automobile manufacturer was reluctant to join up with the OAA due to privacy concerns. They and BMW were both unnerved by the amount of information Google was requesting regarding vehicle owners, but it looks like Mercedes-Benz has come around. BMW, however, remains unconvinced and isn’t showing much intention at all to join up with the alliance.

This is good news for Mercedes-Benz fans, because it’s practically a sure sign that the company is now developing Android Auto integration for vehicles coming out in the 2017-2018 timeframe. BMW fans, like myself, are going to be stuck waiting around for quite a while longer, it seems.

What are your thoughts regarding Mercedes-Benz joining the Open Automotive Alliance? Looking forward to that Android Auto integration, or is your favorite vehicle manufacturer already on the bandwagon? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to stay tuned to Android Authority for all things Android, be it in your pocket or your vehicle console!