Android Auto Is Plotting A Course For Smart Glasses Navigation, Is It A Good Idea?

by Aaron Leong — Friday, April 11, 2025, 10:19 AM EDT

The good folks at Google's Android Auto (AA) dev team could be prepping (or testing) the ability to run navigation on smart glasses, if a breakdown of the latest AA Beta is anything to go by. The idea is cool in that it gives smart glass drivers navigation information and directional cues directly in their line of sight without the need for in-car heads-up displays (HUDs).

Android Auto 14.2 beta carries some a couple of interesting lines of code that hint at some kind of Android Auto/Maps integration:

<string name=”GLASSES_OPTIONS_TITLE”>Glasses</string>
<string name=”GLASSES_SETTING_TEXT”>Start navigation to launch Glasses</string>

While the prompt "Start navigation to launch Glasses" reads weird in English, some further digging found that the Hindi version provides a clearer picture, reading "To view navigation on smart glasses, start navigation." Could this be a sign that Google is developing a way for drivers to hand-off in-car AA navigation duties to a pair of smart glasses?

That would seem like the logical step, especially with Google and Samsung going full send with their Android XR collaboration. The ability to have AA information mirrored in a pair of XR glasses could bring some benefits. To wit, the majority of new cars sold today come with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay integrated into a display on the center console, which require attention away from the road to operate; donning smart glasses with AA running would reduce that distraction.

Another pro is that even though a lot of the same vehicles can be optioned with HUDs that project similar info onto the windshield, that's usually a costly expense. Suddenly, smart glasses become a more cost-effective solution, if this Android Auto feature comes to pass.

That said, this promising feature consequently opens up a whole can of legal and approval challenges. Even though there are no specific laws prohibiting the use of XR/VR equipment while driving, as most state laws stand, these devices (like smartphones) are considered distracting technology and can count as a traffic violation. Likewise, moving forward, states and countries will need to figure out where the line between XR and VR glasses (a la the Apple Vision Pro debacle) is, as the former can technically be used as prescriptive eyewear.