BMW backtracks on Android Auto, says it won't support it after all

In November 2015, during BMW’s quarterly conference call, its CEO Harald Krüger said that the company would add support for Google’s Android Auto OS, as well as its main rival, Apple’s CarPlay, in its future vehicles. Well, it looks like BMW has had second thoughts about those plans. In a new interview, a BMW exec has confirmed that it won’t be adding Android Auto support for its cars after all.

In a chat with TechCrunch during the 2017 Mobile World Congress trade show, Dieter May, BMW’s senior vice president of Digital Services and Business Models, he stated that while Apple CarPlay will continue to be supported, Android Auto will not. The reason May gave is that BMW wanted to be able to control the customer interface inside its upcoming cars, and because of that, the company felt that didn’t include room for an Android Auto screen.

BMW is creating its own ConnectedDrive platform, a cloud-based service that will allow its upcoming vehicles to offer features like smartphones apps to its drivers. In fact, May says that the company is excited about working with Google and other companies to integrate their voice-command digital assistants in its cars.

However, it has to be disappointing to Google that BMW has made the move not to support Android Auto. It would appear that some car makers are still debating whether or not they should use third-party operating systems in their vehicles, or make their own that can work with a number of different services. At the moment, the future of car technology still looks quite fluid, and it may take a few years before everything shakes out in this industry.

Are you disappointed that your next BMW won’t be able to use Android Auto, or did the car maker make the right decision? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!