Parrot scraps plans to sell their Android Auto head unit to after-market customers, will now sell to car makers

In the flurry of Android Auto announcements at CES this year, we saw that French wireless and accessory manufacturer Parrot had announced their entry into the Android Auto market, announcing the RNB6 head unit. At the time Parrot announced the unit would be available for purchase for after-market customers, but have now back-flipped announcing the unit will instead be sold to car makers for use as an embedded system.

Parrot didn’t announce availability or pricing information at CES, but was advising customers to stay tuned for more info on the availability of the RNB6 later in the year. But in an update to their original blog post announcing the head unit, which featured a 7-inch 720p IPS Pro touchscreen, 4 x 55-watt audio amplifier and a wired, wide-angle 1080p dash cam, has been picked up by a number of carmakers keen to use it as their in-car entertainment system.

Parrot is no stranger to making Android based car stereos, releasing the Parrot Asteroid back in 2011, though it was available from some Australian car installers, it never saw a wide release here. The RNB6 was supposed to be released to after-market customers and as a primarily consumer focused company, it would not be surprising to see another model released to the public.

We’ve asked Parrot for more information on which car manufacturers will be offering the Parrot RNB6 as their Android Auto head unit and if they intend to release another model for their after market customers, but they have yet to respond.