Gemini could soon make its way to your car, thanks to Android Auto (APK teardown)

2 months ago 113

Gemini Live screengrab from Made by Google event.

TL;DR

Android Auto could be Gemini’s next home, as we’ve spotted several clues that indicate Google is working on integrating its AI assistant into the service.
Gemini integration within Android Auto could take the form of Gemini Live.
Gemini Live needs a subscription to Google One AI Premium tier but does not require any specialized hardware.

Gemini is the next generation of Google’s digital assistant, now more powerful than ever, thanks to AI. Irrespective of where you stand on the Google Assistant vs Gemini debate, Google is marching forward with Gemini integration across its apps and services, replacing Google Assistant functionality with Gemini’s AI smarts. If you ever wished to get Gemini in your car, here’s some good news: Gemini could soon be available on Android Auto.

An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.

In the latest Android Auto v12.8.143544, we’ve spotted several clues that indicate it could be next in line for Gemini support.

The most obvious clue is the fresh addition of the sparkle icon, which has become synonymous with AI these days. Google uses this icon for Gemini, so its presence within the Android Auto app indicates that some Gemini functionality could be present in the app.

Assemble Debug / Android Authority

The icon sports a monochrome look, as the color gradient details are present in the other XML file.

You can notice that the icon file’s name contains the word “kitt,” which is possibly the name of the Gemini integration within Android Auto. Further, we can spot other strings related to “kitt,” which point toward a Gemini integration.

Code

<string name="gearhead_assistant_action_kitt_live_query">Start conversation</string>

You’d also notice the word “live” in this string name, and the “Start conversation” text is quite in line with what one expects with Gemini Live. To corroborate, we also spotted another “GeminiLiveAssistantAction” function within the Android Auto app.

Assemble Debug / Android Authority

Finally, to round it up, we spotted the GeminiLiveAssistantAction function in another area of the app code, indicating that it was intentionally added, so these Gemini Live mentions aren’t mere coincidences.

All in all, all signs indicate that Google could bring Gemini Live to Android Auto. Gemini Live is available only to Gemini Advanced subscribers (through the Google One AI Premium subscription), but it doesn’t require any specialized hardware, so we presume it would be available to all Android Auto users who are subscribed to the correct Google One plan.

We’ve had great experiences with Gemini Live, and my colleague Rita found Gemini Live to be better than Android Auto in several situations. We’re excited to see what value addition Gemini Live brings to the Android Auto experience. Since the integration appears to be in an early stage of development, there’s no guarantee that Google will roll this out to the public, although we hope that happens.