The Open Automotive Alliance finally shows a product at Google I/O after its launch in January this year: Android Auto. Members including Google, Audi, Honda, GM, Hyundai, and chipmaker Nvidia have been collaborating to bring Android safely to the car in 2014. Rather than the more traditional model of smarts baked-into the car's headunit, your phone will project its OS and the app in play into the car's screen -- much like AppRadio does now. The big benefit here is as your phone updates, your car's center stack gets better without you needing to fiddle with it.

Android Auto is a completely voice-enabled contextually based system, so speaking to your car will allow it to pass along info on opening and closing times of places near you, restaurant listings, send messages, play music and make calls. The APIs used in Android Auto are shared by Android Wear, so devs will benefit by having the ability to easily port between watch and car or even integrate them. 25 car brands have signed up so far with 40 other partners jumping on board. Car makers like Acura, Alfa Romeo, Bentley, Chevy, Chrysler, Dodge, Honda Hyundai, VW, Subaru and Maserati will have models rolling off the assembly line this year. The SDK isn't available just yet but will be available soon.

 

I'm really hoping the 2015 Fits can be updated to work with it. That would suck it 2016's got a different unit.

 

I think I'm going to wait to buy a new car until this is available. I'm a huge android nerd and would love something to be able to put Google Maps on my screen. Getting Google Now and Hangouts built in would be epic for me as well.

 

Yea, hopefully they will make it update-able. Although I don't think we'll see this until next model year unfortunately.

 

I agree! I don't want to buy the Honda Fit 2015 only to find out it's not compatible with the Android Auto!

 

As an Android developer and Google Partner, I have looked into this and I seriously doubt we will ever get Android Auto on the 2015 Honda Fit. Android Auto requires deep hardware integration, and it is unlikely that Honda designed the Fit to work with future hardware and software requirements. My recommendation WAIT UNTIL 2016. The HondaLink Intotainment system is terrible. Android Auto looks to be a great experience and will be get better everytime you get an update on your phone or get a new phone, so you always have the latest and greatest over your vehicle's lifetime. 2015 Fit owners can only hope that the HDMI video lockout while driving is hacked, so we can mirror Android phones to use apps like Google Maps while driving. Even if the Fit hardware can support Android Auto, what motivation does Honda have to push such a complex software update to the 2015 Fit? They will make more money by enticing you to trade in your Fit to get the new model.


The Honda press release says these vehicles will be introduced in 2015, not on models introduced in 2014 like the 2015 Honda Fit.
That right there is a show stopper.

The software developer kit has not yet been released, thus is subject to change, which could possibly affect vehicle requirements.
Android Auto integrates with many hardware systems in the vehicle. All but the EX-L with nav, do not have an integrated GPS. The developer session on Android Auto at the Google I/O conference last month indicates this may be a required hardware component. Hopefully the phone GPS could be used if the car does not have one.

Below are transcripts from Google's developer session detailing Android Auto hardware integration.
Android Auto may require the vehicle to have an accelerometer. Does the 2015 Fit have one? Probably just the EX-L with nav.
HondaLink uses HDMI to send phone video to the touchscreen. Android Auto doesn't, it uses a new proprietary USB signal which sends compressed video and data over the USB cable. The already unresponsive HondaLink Infotainment system may not have a fast enough processor to interpret compressed video over USB. Why would the Fit have been designed to handle video over USB when it already uses HDMI for this purpose?
Was the Honda Fit designed to switch between HondaLink and Android Auto?

 

If the introduction of other technologies is any indication, even the first version in 2016 will be significantly superseded year after year. Technologies defined in a hurry by committees will be full of bugs.

I would prefer to buy now and upgrade in 3 or 4 years. If electronic is a priority for you, forget about keeping a car for 10 years.

 

So from the above transcript and analysis, I would concur that it does seem very unlikely that the 2015 Fit will ever have Android Auto. Although this would have been nice, I never bought the car with any thought in mind that it was likely to happen.

That having been very probably pushed out of reach, we can continue to speculate (or dig around for inside information) on when the latest generation of Honda Link for Android will be made available. I still haven't seen anything at all indicating an expected release date. I'm seriously concerned that this may also be in jeopardy as Honda has mentioned a reliance upon MirrorLink, which very few Android phones actually support (such as my Nexus 5 -- no MirrorLink). So whether this is released with MirrorLink support as a requirement, and only those few phones that support it being able to ever take advantage of it, or whether they opt for some other means of making this work is a big question... or whether they just never get around to doing it at all because they are absolutely set on MirrorLink and not enough handsets support it to be worth bothering.

Anyone with reliable information on this -- beyond speculation, and beyond "some guy at my dealership said..." -- would be very welcome to give us the scoop.

 

If Honda doesn't upgrade the existing system with Android Auto, that would be a deal-breaker for me. I commute 100+miles a day and I love my stereo. If my car dies tomorrow, I might buy a new Fit (because Android Auto is not available yet) but if it dies and a different manufacturer has Android Auto (that is similar to the Fit) then they get my money.

Currently I use a GoGroove to link up via bluetooth via fm to listen to my S5 in my 2008 Honda Fit. Which is good.....about as good as hondalink. When I buy a new car, I intend to upgrade....not a lateral move. If Honda says that it would be upgraded to Android Auto, I would buy a new Fit tomorrow.

Seriously Honda would lose all my respect, if they didn't properly spec the 2015 Fit for an Android Auto upgrade. After all aren't they one of the founding members of the Open Automotive Alliance ?


2008 Honda Fit
140,000 miles

 

Thanks so much for this detailed information. I appreciate it. Perhaps I will wait until 2016 for Android Auto with the Honda Fit. Of course by that time, I will probably upgrade my phone so it will be compatible if it needs additional software. It would nice if Honda came out with an official stance regarding the 2015 Honda Fit specifically. When Honda says "Honda will introduce select vehicles compatible with Android Auto™ in 2015", does that mean in the calendar year or for the model year? After all, this Honda Fit says 2015 even though it's offered in 2014. It's all in the fine print!

 

I feel optimistic about future compatibility with Android Auto based on the recent discovery of GPS within the EX model even though it doesn't offer navigation. If it's not an update pushed out by Honda, I would think someone could find a way to hack the system to make it compatible. At any rate, I'm going to be following updates very closely. I'm super pumped for this integration, it'll be awesome!

 

I can't believe there are people that would consider not buying a car because it doesn't have a certain app in its stereo.

Disgusting.

Focus on driving.

 

If it is free, no one is going to complain. I do not understand why we are not getting a simple screen/monitor with HDMI input. Let users hook it up their laptop/phone/ipad and just steam it to screen.

 

Oh yes, because today's Americans need more distractions while driving? Let's give them a bigger screen to check FaceBook/Instagram on while piloting a 2500 lb. weapon!

 

Do you even know what android auto is? It is specifically designed to have people focused on the road rather than their smartphone. I drove from Virgina to Pennsylvania this morning. I currently have my smartphone linked through a bluetooth/fm transmitter. I took my one hand off the steering while maybe 3 times to fast forward a song, and never took my eyes off the road once. With android auto, I wouldn't even had to do that.

Without progress we would be pulling out maps to see where we are going and listening to 8-tracks. Sure there are still going to be those idiots that have their freaking smartphones (texting, checking emails, etc) out while driving but they just deserve to get the tickets but having android auto (and carplay) will decrease that (hopefully). It certainly wouldn't increase it.

 

A lot of us don't intend to do what you're suggesting. All I care about is navigation and music. I'd like to use my phone's navigation on the 7" screen rather than a built-in nav system that costs a fortune for updates and probably isn't as good as Google Maps anyway. I further want the tight integration of the car's controls with the phone to make this work better. Presumptions of the worst are what keep useful features from coming to be.

 

The only Google app I want interfaced to my car is the one where I tell the car where to go and then it takes me there automatically, leaving me free to play music, surf the net, and update my thousands of "friends" that I'm in a car going somewhere.

Juggling complex smartphone interfaces is distracting whether one does it with fingers or voice, whether on the phone itself or on an infotainment screen. They all take attention that should be paid to driving, at least until the cars drive themselves.

Luddite? Maybe, but at least I'm not deceiving myself that composing a voice command or pushing buttons on my infotainment system is somehow less distracting than using a phone directly.

 

Big fan of tech, but I like my car barebones. Don't care how good the tech is, I'm the driver and I'm gonna drive. Give me ABS and power steering and I'm good to go.