Tech Desk 
Dec 29, 2024
Google is widely releasing a new music player for all apps, such as Spotify, Apple Music, and more. Android Auto 13.4 has been rolling out over the past week or so and brings with it some of the first noticeable changes seen to the platform.
Initially, this included some Material You accent colours throughout the system.
What’s new in Android Auto update
On Android Auto, all audio apps share the same core design for the music player. Buttons may change, but the layout stays consistent to the benefit of the driver, who doesn’t need to re-learn the layout for each app, something that could cause trouble behind the wheel.
The music player has moved the album art off to the left side, opening up space next to it for the track progress bar which has the track title, artist, and time underneath as it did before. The text is slightly smaller to fit as well.
The main change is to the placement of the track progress bar. This new design also displays the updated Android Auto font, which has also taken effect recently.
This could be a sign that Google is moving closer to its “Car Media” update, which is likely to let Android Auto play local media from a car including radio stations. However, there’s still no sign of that being live in this update.
