Google’s In-Car Gemini Dim Sunroof, Ordered Dinner and Became My Tour Guide
On a cool, 86-degree day in Mountain View, just outside Google’s open campus, I escaped into the bright California sun. Volvo EX60 — or so I thought. The air conditioning was not working.
To reduce the heat even a little, we chose to darken the transparent roof. And all we had to do was ask Gemini.
“Can you clear the sunroof?” Vivek Radhakrishnan, a technology program manager at Google, asked the car by voice command. As if by magic, the electrochromic window that stretched over us blocked the bright light from above. We don’t have to check the settings of the car to find the right button.
At Google’s I/O developer conference on Tuesday, I got a quick look at a few new features coming to cars support Google built-in again Android Auto. The upcoming skills, which will be released later this year, are designed to help you keep your eyes on the road while providing useful information. You can rely on Gemini AI to handle tasks like sharing your ETA, describing that sign that caught your eye and even helping you order dinner.
Watch this: Google Car Update Helps You Keep Your Eyes on the Road
The Volvo EX60 comes equipped with Google Built-in, a native operating system for car infotainment systems that allows you to tap directly into Google services. We can ask Gemini to point out a dashboard warning light, for example, or check if the 65-inch TV we just bought can fit in the back.
Although we were parked outside the Shoreline Amphitheater, the TV buzz in front of us equated to driving down a San Francisco street toward one of the city’s great buildings. We asked Gemini, “What is that tall building in front of me, and can you tell me something interesting about it?”
Using the vehicle’s forward-facing camera, Gemini identified the Transamerica Pyramid, which “stood as the tallest building in San Francisco for 45 years.” We got some bonus information, too, as Gemini says, “Nearby, on your right, you’ll find the copper-clad Sentinel Building, a landmark that miraculously survived the 1906 earthquake and later became the home of Francis Ford Coppola’s film studio.” It was neat to get a lot of information and learn something new.
After that, we jumped into the Kia EV9 (which had active A/C) to check out the upcoming Android Auto features, available by connecting your phone to the car. It includes a personal dashboard design built on Google Material 3 Expressiveso you can display a picture of your cat next to custom widgets, for example.
While they were still standing, we then opened YouTube and watched videos in 4K resolution at 60 frames per second, which will make the time you spend charging your car more enjoyable. Once you start driving, those videos switch to audio only to avoid distractions.
The Magic Cue can pull information from your email, calendar or other applications to quickly respond to texts requesting your ETA or other event information. In our demo, an incoming text asked, “What time is pottery class?” and Gemini got the date and time automatically: June 1 at 2 pm Google Product Manager Alanna Veiga just got in touch to post it as an answer.
If you want to make sure your dinner arrives at home when you do, you can also ask Gemini to place an order through the food delivery app. Using voice commands, we asked it to order two fish tacos from Pacific Catch on DoorDash. Gemini then pulled up the DoorDash app on the connected phone and added those items to the cart, clicking through the steps as if it were a human. When it came time to check out, all Veiga had to do was tap to confirm the order.
In cars with both Google Built-in and Android Auto compatibility, you will be able to use the new Immersive Navigation of Google Maps, which shows a 3D view of buildings, surfaces and surroundings, as well as details such as routes, traffic lights and shortcuts. That can help you better understand your surroundings and make navigation clearer and easier.
These updates are part of Gemini’s wider expansion into cars, phones, wearable again smart glasses. And while supercharged AI features may not be able to fix your broken A/C, they can make menial tasks easier and help you stay focused on the road.
