Just days after it emerged that Android Auto will be coming to BMW models from the middle of next year, it’s been revealed that Mini owners will have to wait a little longer.
The guys over at BMW Blog reached out to Mini to see if the brand will follow BMW’s lead in introducing Android Auto – and it turns out that it won’t.
“MINI won’t receive Android Auto functionality at the same time as it was just announced for BMW,” a Mini spokesperson said. “At this time we don’t have a confirmed timeline of when this functionality may become available on MINI models.”
It remains to be seen why Mini isn’t following the same timeline as its parent company. Making things all the more curious is the fact that all new Mini models since 2017 have been offered with Apple CarPlay even though Android’s smartphone operating system makes up much more of the global market than Apple’s iOS.
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Fortunately for BMW owners, Android Auto will be available wirelessly from the get-go, unlike most other vehicles that only currently use wired versions of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
“Many of our customers have pointed out the importance to them of having Android Auto inside a BMW for using a number of familiar Android smartphone features safely without being distracted from the road, in addition to BMW’s own functions and services,” senior vice president product management BMW, Peter Henrich, said last week. “We will offer this service to our customers starting in July 2020.”
BMW’s use of smartphone-mirroring technologies has long been different than its rivals, most notably due to the fact that it had been charging a yearly fee to use Apple CarPlay. Recently, this controversial move was scrapped and CarPlay will now be available free-of-charge to its customers.
