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Android Auto 8 Starts Rolling Out, and Everybody Seems Disappointed

The Coolwalk update that Google announced earlier this year at the I/O event was received with much excitement by Android Auto users out there.
Android Auto Coolwalk UI 6 photos
Photo: Google
The new Android Auto UIThe new Android Auto UIThe new Android Auto UIThe new Android Auto UIThe new Android Auto UI
This is because Coolwalk, no matter if it’s inspired by the CarPlay dashboard or not, is a highly anticipated interface update that makes it possible to run multiple apps side-by-side regardless of the screen size.

In other words, you don’t need a widescreen display to get Android Auto split-screen support, as Coolwalk brings the navigation app, phone calls, and the music player on the display at the same time.

Google originally announced that Coolwalk would go live in the summer, making the wait for this update incredibly hard. Truth be told, the search giant didn’t say what year, but everybody obviously assumed the summer of 2022 would witness the debut of Coolwalk.

With the summer almost over, most people hoped to see this new feature going live as part of Android Auto 8.0. Especially as Google has so far remained tight-lipped on the launch specifics, that is, though all this secrecy does nothing more than to further fuel the excitement for the update in the first place.

And here we are with Android Auto 8.0 now rolling out and of course, with Coolwalk still nowhere to be seen. In other words, if you’re rushing to download the latest version of Android Auto specifically to get Coolwalk, the UI update is missing.

One thing that everybody must keep in mind is that Coolwalk isn’t tied to a specific Android Auto version. The code for Coolwalk is already there in the app, so Google just needs to press the go-ahead button to begin the rollout. In other words, it all happens on the server side, so once the Mountain View-based giant decides Coolwalk is ready for prime time, it just starts the rollout to users out there without the need to first ship a new update.
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About the author: Bogdan Popa
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Bogdan keeps an eye on how technology is taking over the car world. His long-term goals are buying an 18-wheeler because he needs more space for his kid’s toys, and convincing Google and Apple that Android Auto and CarPlay deserve at least as much attention as their phones.
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