The search company's answer to Apple's CarPlay will, like the iPhone system, project smartphone apps and functionality to consumers' car dashboards, and the first vehicle to boast the new system will be the Volvo XC90, which goes on sale at the end of 2014. The point of Android Auto is to make it safer and more intuitive to use a phone while driving. So, when a handset is connected to a car, certain apps won't be accessible -- for example video streaming or anything that presents dense text -- that could increase distraction, and those that are accessible will be slightly tweaked for the same reason. So, there's an in-car version of Google Maps and certain non-Google apps will also appear on screen, like Spotify, but for the most part Google's core features are front and center but in voice operation mode.



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