Google Teams With GM, Honda, and Audi to Bring Android to Cars

That kid—the one in the back of the SUV with the iPad—is the automotive industry’s worst enemy. He’s also the reason some of the world’s biggest automakers are working with Google to bring its Android software into vehicle infotainment systems.

Early this morning, Google announced the Open Automotive Alliance. It’s a group of technology and automotive companies, including General Motors, Honda Motor, Audi, Hyundai, and chipmaker Nvidia, that want to customize Google’s popular mobile operating system for vehicles. The technology companies get a chance to place their wares into hundreds of millions of cars. Meanwhile, the automakers have an opportunity to modernize the software inside their vehicles and try to keep pace with the mobile devices that are starting to make high-profit infotainment systems obsolete.