New Android Auto update available now, with controversial new feature mercifully absent

Android Auto is in the middle of a phased update, moving users to Android Auto 14.4.

But before you panic that this is going to introduce the whacky media controls I recently told you about, it isn’t. There’s no sign of the rearranged buttons to control your music.

So while you breathe a sigh of relief, you’re probably wondering what this new update does actually add. Well, the bad news is that there’s nothing that’s user facing at the moment.

That’s not uncommon in Android Auto, where we’ve seen a number of features being developed in the background that are yet to go live. That appears to be exactly what Android Auto 14.4 is doing – laying the groundwork for the next big push into in-car functionality.

Android Auto 14.4 – according to Auto Evolution – appears to carry with it all the features that were discovered in the beta versions. It looks like the focus is going to be surfacing climate controls into Android Auto that otherwise would sit on the display. This is something that we’ve been following for a couple of months and makes perfect sense.

Android Auto climate controls

The idea is that you can change the temperature or perhaps turn on your heated seat without having to leave Android Auto. Currently, if functions are controlled by the car’s own system you have to spend your time switching back and forth.

It looks like the aim is to reduce that, so you can access more through the Android Auto interface.

However, many manufacturers keep climate controls off the display, or keep them to a separate part of the screen. That will mean that even if you have Android Auto open giving you directions or controlling your music, you’ll still have access to temperature settings.

Many still offer physical controls, because these are the sort of functions where people like a button to press.

While these features aren’t live, I’m expecting Google to make a little more of a show about them – and that could happen at Google I/O tomorrow (20 May) or just be led by a blog post at some point.

As this is a phased roll-out, you might not yet have Android Auto on your phone. I checked my Pixel 9 and found that it was still on Android Auto 14.2, but this sort of rollout is normal. At any rate, it doesn’t really matter as the new features aren’t enabled yet.

The other feature we’re expecting to arrive soon is Gemini. This has already been confirmed for Android Auto, but the question is when it will actually step in to replace the older Google Assistant.

There’s a change coming to Android Auto and we’re almost there – but it seems we’ll all have to wait a little longer to get access to new features.