Android and Android Automotive can also be used without Google. This is exactly what Mercedes Benz is doing, the car company is now announcing. Once again, Faurecia Aptoide was awarded the contract, the partnership of Faurecia and Aptoide already has Volkswagen and BMW on board. Now also the Mercedes Benz Group to supply the infotainment software or part of it to future Mercedes.
“With the Faurecia Aptoide Automotive App Store, we provide the best market-relevant content in the most standardized and efficient way to OEMs. Already today we are the largest automotive app distributor and are supporting the automotive industry by continually growing our ecosystem. We are excited to provide our apps solution to another great German brand.”
“The joint venture between Faurecia & Aptoide already has contracts with VW & BMW to provide their vehicles with its Android Automotive ecosystem.”
Ok so now it’s confirmed the 3 biggest German OEMs will use AOSP #AndroidAutomotive ? 😮https://t.co/Ew1ytGUrzr
— Android TV Guide (@AndroidTV_Rumor) April 28, 2022
You may know Aptoide, which is an app store for Android. Due to the dominance of Google, however, hardly known, at least not among smartphone users. The situation is different in the vehicle sector, where the company now clearly has a bigger stone on the board. And that’s exactly what this system is supposed to bring into the vehicles, a variety of popular apps.
Google remains largely out of the picture with German car manufacturers
But this also means that the largest three car manufacturers from Germany will not have so much with Google for the time being. In any case, not directly in the vehicle, but only with an active smartphone connection. Last year, for example, BMW announced a partnership that makes Android Auto more widely usable, for example on the speedometer screen.