Getting in your car after a long workday is one of those underappreciated feelings. Seeing your office in your rearview mirror and realizing that you won’t have to sit in any more meetings for the rest of the day is almost euphoric. Well, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), our cars are becoming more of an extension of an office than a personal safe space. With the sustained success ofAndroid Auto, Google has continued to push out new and impressive updates, includingmultiscreen support. The advancements in the Android Auto platform have opened up new opportunities for app developers, and Microsoft is the latest company looking to take advantage.
In a recent update, Android Auto introduced several new apps, including the Weather Channel, Prime Video, Vivaldi, and even Zoom and Webex. Having video streaming and conferencing apps built into a vehicle might seem odd, but Android Auto is now more closely related to afully functional tabletthan a traditional car’s display. First highlighted byTechRadar, almost ten months after itsoriginal announcement, Microsoft has established a release window for Teams for Android Auto (9to5Google).
Microsoft Teams users have about one more month to enjoy their cars in peace before the app gets a pivotal update within the Android Auto platform.Microsoft announcedthat the Teams update will roll out beginning in February; it added that users can now quickly join meetings from a calendar view and that there’s a new shortcut to call all your speed dial contacts. The brief statement did not give us many details about the update, yet it looks like the app will change to better align with the version that Apple CarPlay users have been enjoying since 2021.
In the brief update description, Microsoft did not mention the ability to message using Teams, a feature available in CarPlay. I think everyone can agree that we do not need more people focusing on screens rather than the road in front of them, so hopefully, the app will be audio-only. Despite being a versatile app, Microsoft Teams is primarily categorized as a video conferencing app, while the Android Auto version will be more of an audio conferencing app. Although there was no mention of whether the update would be audio only, signs point to that being the case.
Whether you see this new update as a way to enjoy the freedom of taking calls on the road or view it as Teams making its way into every part of your life, remember that you can always disable specific apps on Android Auto. The new Teams update will make managing meetings and making quick calls much more effortless. It will also integrate with your device to view recent calls on your Android phone. So buckle up, both figuratively and literally, for your next conference call. Sorry, I had to throw that in there.
