Android Automotive Design Restrictions

Car design guidelines

Safety Guidelines: Android Auto imposes strict safety guidelines to prioritize driver safety.

Visual Distractions: The guidelines emphasize the importance of limiting visual distractions in app design.

Optimized Interfaces: App interfaces must be optimized for both voice and touch input to enhance usability.

Relevant Information: Only essential information directly related to the driving experience should be displayed by apps.

Avoiding Irrelevant Content: Apps are required to avoid presenting irrelevant or distracting content to prevent unnecessary distractions.

App must be one of below categories

  • Media apps — for audio only : Media apps let users browse and play music, radio, audiobooks, and other audio content in the car. Example : Spotify

  • Messaging apps : Messaging apps let users receive incoming notifications, read messages aloud using text-to-speech, and send replies via voice input in the car. Example : Whatsapp

  • Navigation apps : Navigation apps, including providers of driver and delivery services, help users get where they want to go by providing turn-by-turn directions. Example : Waze.

  • Point of Interest (POI) apps : POI apps let the user discover and navigate to points of interest and take relevant actions, such as parking, charging, and fuel apps. Example : ChargePoint.

  • Internet of Things (IOT) apps : IOT apps let users take relevant actions on connected devices from within the car.

  • Video apps (for use while parked) : Video apps let users view streaming videos while the car is parked. The core purpose of these apps is to display streaming videos.

UI Restrictions

  1. Custom UI Restriction: It's crucial to note that building a custom UI is not allowed in Android Automotive development.

  2. UI Template Requirement: Android Automotive mandates the use of provided UI templates for designing application screens.

  3. Template Display Limit: The host platform restricts the number of templates that can be displayed for a specific task to a maximum of five.

  4. Required Template Types: Among the allowed templates, the last one must be chosen from the following types:

    • NavigationTemplate

    • PaneTemplate

    • MessageTemplate

Distraction Optimization
Content limitation
Custom design
Template Restrictions

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