Ford’s Anthony Philips announced on LinkedIn that the updates are now rolling out to Android Auto’s experience on Ford EVs. The updates are designed with the Mustang Mach-E and Ford F-150 Lightning in mind. Both of these vehicles come equipped with phone-based Android Auto, not the Android Automotive native experience, so do keep that in mind.
The first update is related to the estimated battery level of the vehicle in Google Maps on Android Auto. When you pick a location on Maps, you’ll be able to see how much battery will be remaining when you arrive at your destination.
Google and Ford teased this feature as early as January. And it’s finally rolling out now.
Google Maps already provides this feature on vehicles with Android Automotive native, but further integration is needed to make this work with Android Auto. The feature works on all stops.
But that’s not all! Additionally, Google Maps on Android Auto now shows charging stations equipped with NACS chargers. These include Tesla Supercharger stations, and these charging stations would appear in Ford EVs equipped with the required port. This functionality was added in Android Auto v12.9.
The updates also allow the vehicle to start preconditioning the battery for charging if you’re on the road to the charging station. Of course, you need to update your Android Auto on your phone, as well as check for software updates on your Ford vehicle to take advantage of the new features.
It’s most likely that many of these updates will extend to other EVs in the future as well.
I’m a big fan of updates to Android Auto that would make your driving experience an even better one. The ones coming this time thanks to the partnership of Google and Ford are quite useful, so hopefully you’d like this news just as much as I do.
