 You've got Android on your phone, you can have Android on your wrist, and now you can have Android in your car. Announced last summer, Android Auto is finally rolling out into vehicles you can actually buy, and the Hyundai Sonata is the first car to come with it shipped from the factory. It turns out the future of your car is your phone. For years, the center console in your car has been dominated by the infotainment system, which controls everything from tuning the radio to navigation to even managing the climate control system in some cases. For the most part, these have been universally terrible, with confusing menus, slow performance, and clunky UIs. We've all known for years that the best navigation system for your car is your phone, but using it while driving can be clunky and just unsafe. Android Auto's goal is to present a clean, familiar interface in your car that keeps your eyes on the road and your hands off of your phone. The way Android Auto works in this Hyundai is similar to how it will work in many cars. Instead of completely replacing the vehicle's native interface, Android Auto runs as an app powered by your phone that provides the processing and connectivity for the dash interface. You can't actually do anything with the phone itself. On the Hyundai's touchscreen, you're presented with a familiar, if stripped down, version of Android 5.0 Lollipop. There are five panels, navigation, phone dialer, information, music and media, and a panel for diagnostic information about your car, which Hyundai isn't supporting in this version. But for the most part, Android Auto wants you to use your voice to do things, so you keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road. Navigation works exactly as you'd expect. It's powered by Google Maps and includes all of the traffic info, points of interest, and other features Google Maps has on your phone, with audible directions coming through the car's speakers. You can search for directions with your voice, or using an on-screen keyboard if the car is in park, and you can get info like hours of operation and phone numbers for business locations. You can also push the voice button and dictate text messages, which is way safer than trying to peck them out on the phone screen while driving. The dialer will show the recent call log from your phone, and you can return calls with one tap or using your voice to initiate. The music and media panel accesses songs and podcasts from apps that support Android Auto. The list is pretty short right now, but Google Music, Spotify, and Pocket Casts are here. The media apps all have to conform to a similar look and feel, with large, touchable buttons and pared-down lists. Again, the goal is to get you to use your voice as much as possible. Instead of scrolling through a list of thousands of artists, just push the voice button and say, Play Baroness to start streaming sweet, sludgy jams in your car. It's not great for finding exact albums or songs, and perhaps unsurprisingly, voice control works much better with Google Music than Spotify. Play Flowrida. Front and center is the main dashboard, which shows the currently playing song, the point of destination if you have navigation going, the current weather, upcoming calendar appointments, and locations that you've recently searched for. It also shows incoming hangouts and text messages, but you can't actually read them. Here's the message. Sweet Lambo dog. Compatibility can be hit or miss here. The native SMS apps on some phones don't work very well, but Google's own Hangouts and Messenger apps are pretty reliable. But what you won't ever see here are alerts from email, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or the many other apps and services that ping your phone all day long. That's by design. Google pared this down to just the things it thinks you'll need while driving, and nothing else. That isn't to say you can't have some fun. The full power of Google Voice Search is on tap, so queries like, What's the weather going to be like this weekend? And How old is Jared Leto? work just like they would on your smartphone, with the system dictating your answers aloud instead of displaying them on the screen. But managing your calendar, scrolling through your inbox, and playing Candy Crush will still require you to pull over and disconnect, which is probably a good thing. Android Auto can have some performance issues. During my testing, I used a number of different Android phones, and some performed better than others. The platform requires Android 5.0 Lollipop, which instantly rules out a lot of older devices. In every case, the phone gets pretty warm when you're running Android Auto, and even though it's plugged in, that doesn't guarantee your battery is getting charged. Performance issues and feature limitations aside, if you have an Android phone, you're probably going to want this in your next car. I know I do.
 You've got Android on your phone, you can have Android on your wrist, and now you can
 have Android in your car.
 Announced last summer, Android Auto is finally rolling out into vehicles you can actually
 buy, and the Hyundai Sonata is the first car to come with it shipped from the factory.
 It turns out the future of your car is your phone.
 For years, the center console in your car has been dominated by the infotainment system,
 which controls everything from tuning the radio to navigation to even managing the climate
 control system in some cases.
 For the most part, these have been universally terrible, with confusing menus, slow performance,
 and clunky UIs.
 We've all known for years that the best navigation system for your car is your phone,
 but using it while driving can be clunky and just unsafe.
 Android Auto's goal is to present a clean, familiar interface in your car that keeps
 your eyes on the road and your hands off of your phone.
 The way Android Auto works in this Hyundai is similar to how it will work in many cars.
 Instead of completely replacing the vehicle's native interface, Android Auto runs as an
 app powered by your phone that provides the processing and connectivity for the dash interface.
 You can't actually do anything with the phone itself.
 On the Hyundai's touchscreen, you're presented with a familiar, if stripped down, version
 of Android 5.0 Lollipop.
 There are five panels, navigation, phone dialer, information, music and media, and a panel
 for diagnostic information about your car, which Hyundai isn't supporting in this version.
 But for the most part, Android Auto wants you to use your voice to do things, so you
 keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road.
 Navigation works exactly as you'd expect.
 It's powered by Google Maps and includes all of the traffic info, points of interest,
 and other features Google Maps has on your phone, with audible directions coming through
 the car's speakers.
 You can search for directions with your voice, or using an on-screen keyboard if the car
 is in park, and you can get info like hours of operation and phone numbers for business
 locations.
 You can also push the voice button and dictate text messages, which is way safer than trying
 to peck them out on the phone screen while driving.
 The dialer will show the recent call log from your phone, and you can return calls with
 one tap or using your voice to initiate.
 The music and media panel accesses songs and podcasts from apps that support Android Auto.
 The list is pretty short right now, but Google Music, Spotify, and Pocket Casts are here.
 The media apps all have to conform to a similar look and feel, with large, touchable buttons
 and pared-down lists.
 Again, the goal is to get you to use your voice as much as possible.
 Instead of scrolling through a list of thousands of artists, just push the voice button and
 say, Play Baroness to start streaming sweet, sludgy jams in your car.
 It's not great for finding exact albums or songs, and perhaps unsurprisingly, voice
 control works much better with Google Music than Spotify.
 Play Flowrida.
 Front and center is the main dashboard, which shows the currently playing song, the point
 of destination if you have navigation going, the current weather, upcoming calendar appointments,
 and locations that you've recently searched for.
 It also shows incoming hangouts and text messages, but you can't actually read them.
 Here's the message.
 Sweet Lambo dog.
 Compatibility can be hit or miss here.
 The native SMS apps on some phones don't work very well, but Google's own Hangouts
 and Messenger apps are pretty reliable.
 But what you won't ever see here are alerts from email, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook,
 or the many other apps and services that ping your phone all day long.
 That's by design.
 Google pared this down to just the things it thinks you'll need while driving, and
 nothing else.
 That isn't to say you can't have some fun.
 The full power of Google Voice Search is on tap, so queries like, What's the weather
 going to be like this weekend?
 And How old is Jared Leto? work just like they would on your smartphone, with the system
 dictating your answers aloud instead of displaying them on the screen.
 But managing your calendar, scrolling through your inbox, and playing Candy Crush will still
 require you to pull over and disconnect, which is probably a good thing.
 Android Auto can have some performance issues.
 During my testing, I used a number of different Android phones, and some performed better
 than others.
 The platform requires Android 5.0 Lollipop, which instantly rules out a lot of older devices.
 In every case, the phone gets pretty warm when you're running Android Auto, and even
 though it's plugged in, that doesn't guarantee your battery is getting charged.
 Performance issues and feature limitations aside, if you have an Android phone, you're
 probably going to want this in your next car.
 I know I do.