The next Renault electric car will have an advanced infotainment system, based on Android Automotive, built by Korean giant LG
It will arrive in March 2022 but we've known since its presentation that it will be the first electric car produced in large volumes to use Android Automotive. Now we also know that the infotainment system on which Google's operating system for cars will run is manufactured by LG.
The car in question is the new Renault Mégane E-TECH Electric, announced in September by the French group led by Italian Luca de Meo, and the infotainment system is LG IVI, which stands for "In-Vehicle Infotainment". It seems clear, therefore, that Renault has decided to make a decisive step forward in the future of connected and intelligent cars, but has preferred to do so by relying on a partner of depth and experience, such as LG. The Korean giant, in fact, knows Android inside out since until a few months ago it produced smartphones with this operating system. And, in fact, LG IVI is already the first infotainment system to receive Google Automotive Services (GAS) certification.
Android Automotive on Renault Mégane
LG IVI is a system based on Android 10 that implements "Google Automotive Services", i.e. the equivalent for cars of the now famous "Google Mobile Services" (GMS) for cell phones. That is, the ones that Huawei can no longer use.
These services allow you to create a homogeneous platform in which all Google apps work smoothly: for example, thanks to GMS you can open a link to a geographical location that has been shared with us via email, switching directly to Google Maps.
Switching from the smartphone world to the automotive world means that someone can send us their location in real time and we can open it directly from the car's navigation system, without going through the smartphone.
All this, on the Renault Mégane E-TECH Electric, can be done from the Center Information Display (CID), i.e. from the central screen with its intuitive Human Machine Interface (HMI).
The car dashboards of the future
We are about to enter an era in which we will use cars like smartphones: with unified operating systems (in this case Android Automotive), which individual automotive manufacturers will then customize with their own user interfaces.
Exactly as today, just to give an example, Xiaomi offers its users the MIUI interface or Samsung the One UI, but both are based on Android.
"Digital dashboards," explains Thierry Cammal, president of Renault's software division, "have rapidly transformed the way drivers and passengers interact with their vehicles, enabling greater customization and comfort. And we're just getting started.