mahindra xuv 500

Indian car manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (known more commonly as Mahindra) have announced their membership of Google’s Open Automotive Alliance, which will see the company bring Android Auto to its range of vehicles.

Under the banner of this association with Google and the OAA, Mahindra is getting ready to provide its customers with the next level of connectivity through ‘Android Auto’, the company said in a statement.

Commenting on the development, Mahindra president and chief executive (Automotive) Pravin Shah said:

Going forward, after successful integration, we will be offering Android Auto in our flagship models of XUV 500 and the Scorpio as well as on our future platforms.

I am confident that this will help us in taking a quantum leap in offering connectivity solutions to our customers.

Android Auto brings Android to the car in the same way that Android TV and Android Wear bring a customised version of Android designed especially for the lounge room and wearables. The platform offers connectivity with smartphones to drive the in-car experience, allowing use of voice commands for map navigation, listening to music, finding the answers to questions that pop up while driving, and so much more.

We’re yet to conduct a full review of Android Auto in Australia, as its only just starting to become more widely available, but we will stay on the case and bring you an in-depth review as soon as we can. Hopefully we can pair that with a review vehicle, and take a look at some of the real-world implementations of the platform.

Until then, take a look at Jason’s demo with a Pioneer Android Auto unit and whet your appetite!