Car App

Declaring dependencies

To add a dependency on the Car App Library, you must add the Google Maven repository to your project. Read Google's Maven repository for more information.

Add the dependencies for the artifacts you need in the build.gradle file for your app or module:

dependencies {
    implementation "androidx.car.app:app:1.4.0"

    // For Android Auto specific functionality
    implementation "androidx.car.app:app-projected:1.4.0"

    // For Android Automotive specific functionality
    implementation "androidx.car.app:app-automotive:1.4.0"

    // For testing
    testImplementation "androidx.car.app:app-testing:1.4.0"
}

dependencies {
    implementation("androidx.car.app:app:1.4.0")

    // For Android Auto specific functionality
    implementation("androidx.car.app:app-projected:1.4.0")

    // For Android Automotive specific functionality
    implementation("androidx.car.app:app-automotive:1.4.0")

    // For testing
    testImplementation("androidx.car.app:app-testing:1.4.0")
}

For more information about dependencies, see Add build dependencies.

Feedback

Your feedback helps make Jetpack better. Let us know if you discover new issues or have ideas for improving this library. Please take a look at the existing issues in this library before you create a new one. You can add your vote to an existing issue by clicking the star button.

Create a new issue

See the Issue Tracker documentation for more information.

Version 1.8

Version 1.8.0-alpha02

June 18, 2025

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.8.0-alpha02 is released. Version 1.8.0-alpha02 contains these commits.

New Features

• Added support for Action.MEDIA_PLAYBACK which displays an indicator based on media playback state.
• Added support for controlling a user’s scroll position upon refresh of the SectionedItemTemplate.

API Changes

• Add support for saving a user's scroll position within the SectionedItemTemplate between refreshes. (Ia4c51)
• Updated MEDIA_PLAYBACK action to enable it for row end action (I05cc4)
• Add a new action type (I6cc5a)
• Add CarAppExtender#addAction(Action) so that any type of action can be added to the CarAppExtender. (Idc4d7)
• Made SectionedItemTemplate accessible for API 8 and above. (I9a079)

Version 1.8.0-alpha01

May 20, 2025

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.8.0-alpha01 is released. Version 1.8.0-alpha01 contains these commits.

New Features

All capabilities are temporarily only available on Android Auto. The same API’s will be leveraged across AAOS

• Added Media category to create custom application, as an alternative to MediaBrowse based ones
• Added Playback Template which allows to control the top actions during in Media Playback View (only available to Media apps)
• Added full support for Sectioned Item Template on Android Auto, which allows combinations of sub-sections made of Lists/Grids.
• Added Extra-Large as an additional size for Grid Items.

API Changes

• Add an extra size option for Grid items (I35b58)
• Adds category and permission for media apps to Car App Library (I8e100)
• Added new api for apps to detect whether the CarAppLibrary media category is supported (Ic4b08)
• Added OnItemVisibilityChangeListener to Section. (I2c2fd)
• Added Mileage#getOdometerKilometers and deprecate Mileage#getOdometerMeters (Ic91af)

Bug Fixes

• Fix typo in Javadoc of CarIcon.setTint (Iabd72)
• Updated Row.Builder#setNumericDecoration documentation to reflect how 1 action + numeric decoration is not supported; however 0 or 2 actions + numeric decoration is. (Ic0b08)
• Added field for badge icon background color for grid items. (I2b6ae)

Version 1.7

Version 1.7.0-rc01

January 15, 2025

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.7.0-rc01 is released with no notable changes from beta03. Version 1.7.0-rc01 is a contains these commits.

• This is the first RC that includes the fix for CVE-2024-10382 patched on beta03. If you are using a lower version than 1.7-beta03, please update to use this version.

Version 1.7.0-beta03

November 13, 2024

Fixed a security vulnerability and other general bug fixes. If you are using a lower version, please update to use this version.

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.7.0-beta03 is released. Version 1.7.0-beta03 contains these commits.

API Changes

• Update CAL Serialization / De-serialization code to only handle objects which have the annotation @CarProtocol declared on them. (Ic730e)
• CarAppExtender can now be used to extend the framework Notification.Builder instead of only NotificationCompat.Builder. (Id3ad7)
• Add KEY_EXCLUDE_MEDIA_ITEM_FROM_MIXED_APP_LIST extra. (I201f9)
• Deprecate the empty Builder constructor on ConversationItem and replace it with a constructor that takes required parameters. Also adds a check to guard against null messages. (Ic8221)

Bug Fixes

• Ensure PlaceList map uses string (Text-only) Header title. (Ic992f)
• This library now uses JSpecify nullness annotations, which are type-use. Kotlin developers should use the following compiler argument to enforce correct usage: -Xjspecify-annotations=strict (this is the default starting with version 2.1.0 of the Kotlin compiler). (Ib5367, b/326456246)

Version 1.7.0-beta02

September 18, 2024

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.7.0-beta02 is released. Version 1.7.0-beta02 contains these commits.

API Changes

• Add KEY_ROOT_HINT_MEDIA_HOST_VERSION extra (I8796b)
• Replace TabContents.Api8Builder class with @ExperimentalCarApi constructor inTabContents.Builder class (I26fbe)
• Add intent action and extras for CarMediaApp (I50782)
• Mark messaging APIs as non-experimental (I0b070)
• Add remote item loading to SectionedItemTemplate (allows long lists to load without crashing) (I0d122)
• Add SectionedItemTemplate to list of supported templates inside TabTemplate in API 8. (Idc5d6)

Bug Fixes

• Removed manual outlining of access to new platform APIs since this happens automatically via API modeling when using R8 with AGP 7.3 or later (e.g. R8 version 3.3) and for all builds when using AGP 8.1 or later (e.g. D8 version 8.1). Clients who are not using AGP are advised to update to D8 version 8.1 or later. See this article for more details. (I9496c, b/345472586)

Version 1.7.0-beta01

June 26, 2024

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.7.0-beta01 is released. Version 1.7.0-beta01 contains these commits. Features are the same as published in alpha01, which are repeated below:

New Features

• Map with Content: New template a Map Canvas plus a content template, which for now can be List / Grid / Pane / Message.
  • RoutePreview, PlaceListNavigation, MapTemplate are now deprecated. Templates will continue to work as-is.
  • Sample apps have been updated to show MapWithContentusage instead of deprecated templates
• Conversation Item: New APIs for displaying conversations (IM, SMS), and Assistant readout in the car.
• Vehicle Dimensions: New API to retrieve vehicle measures (data on AAOS at the moment).

API Changes

• Add @ExperimentalCarApi tag to MediaPlaybackTemplate.Builder. (Ic1957)
• Adds a new SectionedItemTemplate in experimental. (I5958a)
• Introduce CarAppApiLevel 8 (I3fa22)
• Adds MediaPlaybackTemplate for displaying content during media playback in Car App Library. (I3c10d)
• Added new api for apps to detect whether the system supports background audio while driving (I0f868)

Bug Fixes

• Fixes certain instances of memory leaks and crashes in CAL client code and in CAL Navigation Sample App. (I55e04)
• Replace requireNotNull instances in BaseCarAppActivity's onDestroy method with if-null checks to avoid crashes. (Iec676)

Version 1.7.0-alpha02

April 17, 2024

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.7.0-alpha02 is released. Version 1.7.0-alpha02 contains these commits.

New Features

• Added deprecated flags for map-based templates which MapWithContent template will power moving forward.

API Changes

• Deprecate old MapTemplate, RoutePreviewNavigationTemplate, PlaceListNavigationTemplate and encourage use of new MapWithContentTemplate (Ib0a08)

Version 1.7.0-alpha01

April 3, 2024

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.7.0-alpha01 is released. We have moved our library versioning scheme to match the active CarApi version. This is to reduce confusion on the naming scheme based on developer feedback. As a result, we will skip versions 1.5 / 1.6 directly moving to 1.7 Version 1.7.0-alpha01 contains these commits.

New Features

• Map with Content: New template named MapWithContent which supports List / Grid / Pane / Message as Content inside a map.
  • RoutePreview, PlaceListNavigation, Map templates are now deprecated.
  • Sample apps have been updated to show functionality of deprecated templates using MapWithContent.
• Conversation Item: New APIs for displaying conversations (IM, SMS), and Assistant readout in the car.
• Vehicle Dimensions: New API to retrieve vehicle measures (data on AAOS at the moment).

API Changes

• Mark extra small row image type as experimental (I5184b)
• Added CarInfo#fetchExteriorDimensions API which allows access to vehicle exterior dimension information such as height, width, etc (Ia40c5)
• Removed ExperimentalAPI tag from MapWithContentTemplate (I66db8)
• Update GridItem#setTitle parameter to be nullable. (I3d610)
• GetHeader API does not require API 7 because it is backwards compatible (I8c812)
• Add support for Header in ListTemplate, deprecate headerAction, headerTitle, actionStrip (I7ae01)
• Deprecate title, headerAction, actionStrip in GridTemplate and add support for Header (I41a9c)
• Remove level 7 requirement for experimental APIs: Badge, GridTemplate item size and image shape getters/setters, GridItem methods for getting/setting Badge. (Id71eb)
• Deprecate title, headerAction, actionStrip in PaneTemplate, add new Header support (I23154)
• Changed Media Center telemetry from BroadcastReceiver to Browse Custom Action. (I4185f)
• Added Header attribute support in MessageTemplate. Deprecated support for ActionStrip, headerAction and title. (Ie2de8)
• Modify alert constant visibility (Icf8a8)
• Remove isLoading attribute from the parent template (I651e6)
• Add extras to inform media apps of the main UI parameters (I85ca2)
• Add media center analytics feature to MediaExtensions (I7ce28)
• Added option for extra small image on rows. (I72c03)

Bug Fixes

• Update javadoc on ConversationItem to state that messages should be sorted in order from oldest to newest. (I77a2a)
• Update ListTemplate truncation logic to remove oldest messages from ConversationItem (Ie0a61)

Version 1.4

Version 1.4.0

May 29, 2024

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.4.0 is released. Version 1.4.0 is a promotion of 1.4.0-rc02.

Important changes since 1.3.0

• Instrument Cluster map rendering for Navigation apps
• New Tab Template for improved app layout / usability
• Support for Adaptive task limits
• Secondary actions on list elements

Version 1.4.0-rc02

December 13, 2023

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.4.0-rc02 is released. Version 1.4.0-rc02 contains these commits.. Minor fixes only

Bug Fixes

• Update javadoc on ConversationItem to state that messages should be sorted in order from oldest to newest (I77a2a)
• Update ListTemplate truncation logic to remove oldest messages from ConversationItem (Ie0a61)

Version 1.4.0-rc01

November 1, 2023

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.4.0-rc01 is released with no notable changes. Version 1.4.0-rc01 contains these commits..

Version 1.4.0-beta02

September 20, 2023

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.4.0-beta02 is released. Version 1.4.0-beta02 contains these commits.. This is almost identical to beta01, but lowers the compileSdk requirement to 33.

Bug Fixes

• Fix a bug where loading screens on Tabs would not be displayed appropriately. (cae860)

Version 1.4.0-beta01

August 9, 2023

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.4.0-beta01 is released. Version 1.4.0-beta01 contains these commits..

Note: 1.4-beta01 requires compileSdk34, which is still in dev status. 1.4-beta02 will correct this issue. Alternatively, you can add android.suppressUnsupportedCompileSdk=34 to your project's settings.gradle file to safely temporarily suppress the warning.

New Features

• Instrument Cluster map rendering for Navigation apps
• New Tab Template for improved app layout / usability
• Support for Adaptive task limits
• Secondary actions on list elements

API Changes

• See alpha02

Version 1.4.0-alpha02

July 26, 2023

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.4.0-alpha02 is released. Version 1.4.0-alpha02 contains these commits.

• Release of Alpha02 is intended to be a preparation for an upcoming release of beta01.

New Features

• Map rendering on Instrument Cluster support for navigation apps
• Added Tabs for apps to improve layout experience
• Added List / Grid template rendering options
• Added new categories for Weather and Comms
• Move several API’s to the next CarApi 7 release

API Changes

• Add multimedia fields to CarMessage (I5aaf6)
• Adds custom actions to ConversationItem in Car App Library (Ie5ed6)
• Add extras to indicate a media item is played with an immersive audio format and showcase its content format logo (Icb5bb)
• Add new Action type, ActionsConstraints API to support compose button. (I31661)
• Made set/getTemplate as set/get ContentTemplate (Ica036)
• Template parameter would now be @NonNull. Updated MapWithContentTemplate API documentation (I0f8ed)
• Removes @ExperimentalCarApi tag for Actions in ListTemplate for launch in CAL 1.4 (I2cfcb)
• Removes @ExperimentalCarApi tag for TabTemplate (Ifcb82)
• Remove @ExperimentalCarApi annotations from Row secondary actions and decorations (I8487e)
• Adds active tab content ID to TabTemplate and deprecates active state on Tabs (I96932)
• Add ItemImageShape property to GridTemplate (Ibf431)
• Add ItemSize property to GridTemplate, which controls grid item sizing according to relative small, medium, large buckets. (Icdb3b)
• Open up the API access for developers to gain a copy of the current screen stack. (I48107)
• Adds category for weather apps to Car App Library (I2be44)
• Adds category for calling apps to Car App Library (Icab33)
• Replaced GridItem.Builder#setBadge() with overloaded setImage() methods (Id2000)
• Add icon property to Badge (I629b2)
• Add method to set dot badge background color (I6411c)
• Add Badge property to GridItem, allowing a badge to be displayed on top of a GridItem image. (I95de7)
• Added an experimental Badge object that will represent a badge to be displayed over an image. (I9878d)

Version 1.4.0-alpha01

February 22, 2023

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.4.0-alpha01 is released. Version 1.4.0-alpha01 contains these commits.

API Changes

• Adds top-level actions to GridTemplate in Car App Library (Id0191)
• Adds top-level actions to ListTemplate in Car App Library (I9efab)
• Add extras to link a media item's subtitle or its description to other media items (Ic84bf)
• Update api level for row actions to level 6. (Ie0a69)
• Add messaging callbacks to A4C (Ie3986)

Bug Fixes

• Add missing java doc references for CarMessage. (I5db1c)
• Override equals() and hashCode() for ConversationItem and CarMessage (I6fd10)
• Improve ConversationItem.mMessages validation (require non-null, non-empty (Iafc51)
• Add @Keep annotations to ConversationItem fields (I5d250)
• Update java docs for the Row decoration and secondary actions. (I000b6)

Version 1.3

Version 1.3.0-rc01

December 7, 2022

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.3.0-rc01 is released. Version 1.3.0-rc01 contains these commits.

• Minor bug fixes from beta01. No Major Changes.

Version 1.3.0-beta01

September 7, 2022

androidx.car.app:app:1.3.0-beta01, androidx.car.app:app-projected:1.3.0-beta01, androidx.car.app:app-automotive:1.3.0-beta01, and androidx.car.app:app-testing:1.3.0-beta01 are released. Version 1.3.0-beta01 contains these commits.

• Car apps built using this library can now go to the Play Store using API Level 5 (see our development guide). Features annotated with API level 5 and under are compatible with both Android Auto 8.1+ and the Google Automotive App Host 1.4+.

New Features

In addition to capabilities added in Car App Library 1.3.0-alpha01, the following features have been added as part of beta01 (All features here only involve with host side changes without any API changes):

• The floating navigation bar will continue to show even when a user is in a map-based selection screen in PlaceListNavigationTemplate, RoutePreviewNavigationTemplate, and MapTemplate. This can be done by updating navigation info through NavigationManager.updateTrip().
• Enable the action button with FLAG_DEFAULT to have a timeout animation. This button will be clicked by default after the timeout. ([API 5 - All Templates])
• A Rows subtext is not truncated when the car is parked, but truncated to 2 lines while driving. ([API 5 - All Templates])
• Support disabled state for Action, Toggle, Row ([API 5 - All Templates])

API Changes

• Relax constraints in MapTemplate list to support selectable lists (I961ed)
• Remove the constraint for Header Actions to allow for custom icons. (Iad28f)
• Add a constraint setOnClickListenerAllowed() to ActionsConstraints. Where it allowed Action to set OnClickDelegate() to actions except the standard icon types. (TYPE_APP_ICON, TYPE_BACK, and TYPE_PAN) (I3c745)

Bug Fixes

• Added compatibility of Android Automotive Template Host 1.4+ with curved displays ([Host change])

Version 1.3.0-alpha01

July 27, 2022

androidx.car.app:app:1.3.0-alpha01, androidx.car.app:app-projected:1.3.0-alpha01, androidx.car.app:app-automotive:1.3.0-alpha01, and androidx.car.app:app-testing:1.3.0-alpha01 are released. Version 1.3.0-alpha01 contains these commits.

Features annotated with API level 5 are compatible with Android Auto 7.9 and above.

New Features

• API Level 5: new MapTemplate that can be used by navigation apps to display pane or list content alongside a map (If5826, If44b8)
• API Level 5: new CarAudioRecord API to allow recording audio input via the host vehicle's microphone (I5e71a)
• API Level 5: new SuggestionManager API to allow apps to provide suggestions to the host (I5c103)
• API Level 5: new Alert API to display in context notifications on the NavigationTemplate (I163a7, I5ad70)
• API Level 5: new Header and MapController components to facilitate re-use across templates (If5826)
• Added androidx.car.app.category.POI as a category for enabling POI apps (and deprecated androidx.car.app.category.PARKING and androidx.car.app.category.CHARGING) (I59da1)

API Changes

• API Level 5: new onClick method in the SurfaceCallback interface to allow for tap on map interactivity (Ia9777)
• API Level 5: new flags Action.FLAG_IS_PERSISTENT and Action.FLAG_DEFAULT to describe Actions (I96318, I5ad70)
• API Level 5: new enabled/disabled state for the Action, Row, and Toggle components (host support coming around the 1.3.0-beta01 release of the library) (Id8a09)
• API Level 5: Favor the new Header component via setHeader on the PlaceListNavigationTemplate.Builder and RoutePreviewNavigationTemplate.Builder, deprecating the existing setTitle and setHeaderAction methods (I30e6a)
• API Level 5: new setOnContentRefreshListner method on the PlaceListMapTemplate.Builder and PlaceListNavigationTemplate.Builder for use with implementations of the new OnContentRefreshListner interface.
• API Level 5: New setTripText and setTripIcon on the TravelEstimate.Builder to customise the travel estimate card (Idcc6d, Ic620d)
• Add support for CarIconSpans in the PaneTemplate's title (Ia1ee0)
• Add support for CarIconSpans in a Row's title and text (Ic1e3c)
• Map ActionStrips can now have up to four actions (If3522)
• Update Car App API level to 5 (I26b8e)
• Headers/titles are now optional for the PlaceListMapTemplate, PlaceListNavigationTemplate, RoutePreviewNavigationTemplate, GridTemplate, ListTemplate, LongMessageTemplate, MessageTemplate, PaneTemplate, and SignInTemplate (I2078d, Icadde)

Bug Fixes

• Updated PaneTemplate image sizing rules to be a square bounding box (Idd72e)
• Fixed an exception that happens if the screen stack is modified after State.DESTROYED. (I3c8eb)
• Added a null check for retriving the app icon (I3f710)
• Update Car Hardware API to use STATUS_UNKNOWN instead of STATUS_UNAVAILABLE by default (Ic9444)
• Check if display exists before creating surface (Ice027a)
• Fix CarValue.equals() bug involving STATUS_UNIMPLEMENTED (I24451)

Version 1.2

Version 1.2.0

November 9, 2022

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.2.0 is released. Version 1.2.0 contains these commits.

• This is a stabilization release, and there are no changes compared to v1.2.0-rc01.

Version 1.2.0-rc01

March 23, 2022

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.2.0-rc01 is released. Version 1.2.0-rc01 contains these commits.

• This is a stabilization release, and there are no API changes compared to v1.2.0-beta02. New experimental features (API level 5) have been added that are intended for future Android Auto and Android Automotive releases.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an exception that happens if the screen stack is modified after State.DESTROYED. (I3c8eb)
• Updated CarSensors API to indicate that they are not implemented for AAOS (Idd57b)
• Updated PlaceListMapTempalte.Builder#setCurrentLocationEnabled to indicate that ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION would be sufficient for the feature (I510c2)
• Made exit number optional for roundabout-with-angle maneuver types (Ife7d1)

Version 1.2.0-beta02

January 26, 2022

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.2.0-beta02 is released. Version 1.2.0-beta02 contains these commits.

Car apps built with this library version targeting the Android Automotive OS platform can now be published to the Play Store open testing channel. Refer to the development guide for more details.

Features annotated with API level 4 and under are compatible with both Android Auto 7.2+ and the new Android Automotive OS platform. See the Known Issues section below for caveats.

API Changes

• Added experimental setOnContentRefreshListener API to POI templates (I6bf22)

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a memory leak in CarAppService when the car host unbinds. (I5c9ca, b/203594731)
• Updated CarAppActivity javadoc to include requirements for singleTask launchmode (Id2f95)
• Reduces the visual glitch on resume. (Iff7e0)

Known Issue(s)

• The map ActionStrips in the PlaceListNavigationTemplate and RoutePreviewNavigateTemplate will start becoming available in the next Android Auto and Android Automotive OS releases.

Version 1.2.0-alpha02

December 15, 2021

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.2.0-alpha02 is released. Version 1.2.0-alpha02 contains these commits.

Features annotated with API level 4 has been upgraded from experimental to stable, including the map ActionStrips in the PlaceListNavigationTemplate and RoutePreviewNavigateTemplate, the CarIcon image in Panes, the QRCodeSignInMethod and the ability to set rendering hints (e.g. flags) in Actions.

New Features

• In Android Auto 7.1+, the item limit for Pane has been increased from 2 to 4.

API Changes

• Added an experimental toString() method to CarUnit(I36a3b)

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a crash that happened in CarAppPermissionActivity if the callback is dead (If9823)
• Changed Pane default list limit to 4 (I0068b)

Version 1.2.0-alpha01

November 3, 2021

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.2.0-alpha01 is released. Version 1.2.0-alpha01 contains these commits.

All new v1.2.0 features (API 4+) are currently experimental targeting future Android Auto and Android Automotive OS releases. Refer to the development guide for more details.

API Changes

• Made AutomotiveCarInfo API experimental. (Ia13e5)
• Added Car App Library API level 4 (I2a2e7)
• API Level 4: Added support for setting a CarIcon in Pane (Ifcc12)
• API Level 4: Added QR code sign in method (Ib623e)
• API Level 4: Added set/getFlags to Action (Ic03ab)
• API Level 4: Added support for panning and zooming in PlaceListNavigationTemplate and RoutePreviewNavigationTemplate (I9d8a3)

Bug Fixes

• API Level 4: Add mechanism to allow apps to send location updates to the car host (I3bad3)
• Fix an issue where the host validation logic was not finding the TEMPLATE_RENDERER permission properly (I62618)

Version 1.1.0

Version 1.1.0

December 15, 2021

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.1.0 is released. Version 1.1.0 contains these commits.

This is a stabilization release, and there are no changes compared to v1.1.0-rc01. Also see the release notes for v1.2.0-alpha02 for more details on new features for the car app library.

Important changes since 1.0.0

• API Level 2: SignInTemplate and LongMessageTemplate that can be used for sign-in flows when the vehicle is parked
• API Level 2: map interactivity support within the NavigationTemplate
• API Level 2: multiple-length text support to allow apps to provide multiple versions of string for display depending on the car screen sizes.
• API Level 3: CarHardwareManagerthat can be used to query vehicle’s hardware data, such as model and make, fuel levels and other sensors.

Version 1.1.0-rc01

November 3, 2021

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.1.0-rc01 is released. Version 1.1.0-rc01 contains these commits.

This is a stabilization release, and there are no API changes compared to v1.1.0-beta01. New experimental features (API level 4) have been added that are intended for future Android Auto releases. See the release notes for v1.2.0-alpha01 for more details on the experimental APIs.

Version 1.1.0-beta01

September 1, 2021

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.1.0-beta01 is released. Version 1.1.0-beta01 contains these commits.

All v1.1.0 features (API 2+) are fully compatible with Android Auto 6.7 and above. Refer to the development guide for more details.

API Changes

• Removed Manager as a public interface (Ie381b)
• Added ability to set a custom branded background for permission request (I74b76)
• Added ScreenManager.getStackSize (I0b16a)
• Removed ScreenController constructor that explicit takes TestCarContext (Iefebc)

Bug Fixes

• Added API level check when creating CarHardwareManager (I48f9b)
• Added checks for invalid CarSpan usage across the API (I65ae6)
• Fixed an issue where if a Screen is marked as finished during its creation, it would leave the stack in a broken state (I81b13)
• Fix an issue where CarNotificationManager.notify would log an error for AutomotiveOS if there were actions with icons in the CarAppExtender (I3633d)
• Added a handshake method for app and host to establish an API version (I7d6f8)

Version 1.1.0-alpha02

July 21, 2021

androidx.car.app:app-*:1.1.0-alpha02 is released. Version 1.1.0-alpha02 contains these commits.

New Features

• API Level 3: Added a CarHardwareManagerthat can be used to query vehicle’s hardware data, such as model and make, fuel levels and other sensors. Currently, this feature is only available for Android Auto 6.7+ in the open-testing channel. Testing this in a desktop environment requires a new version of Desktop Head Unit which will be released separately. Stay tuned on Test Android apps for cars page for details on when the new version becomes available.
• Follow the development guide and the library reference for additional details and design guidelines on how to use these features in car hosts that are compatible with API level 3.

API Changes

• Consolidated SessionController and ScreenController lifecycle methods into a single moveToState method (I1ed00)
• Added CarContext#getHostInfo() (I8977e)
• Removed deprecated fields. (I67168)
• Updated SessionController and ScreenController to expose constructors directly (Iabf22)
• Removed PinSignInMethod.Builder and ProviderSignInMethod.Builder (I9f0cb)
• Added 'setCarAppResult()' to enable using templated apps 'for result' in AAOS (I37741)
• Annotated CarHardware interfaces with @MainThread. (Ib2f85)
• Renamed OnCarDataListener to OnCarDataAvailableListener (I518ca)
• Updated CarInfo, Speed, Mileage method names and javadoc. (I86672)
• Renamed Toll to TollCard. (I3e7c8)
• Removed deprecated PinSignInMethod.getPin which is replaced by PinSignInMethod.getPinCode (I996ce)
• Removed OnInputCompletedListener (replaced with InputCallback). (Ib5be1)
• Changed PinSignInMethod to take CharSequence instead of String (I275d5)

Bug Fixes

• Javadoc fixes for car hardware. (I2abbc)

External Contribution

Known Issues

• In the SignInTemplate, using the InputSignInMethod may result in a NullPointerException in the car host. This will be addressed in the next release of the library. To workaround the issue, include this line in your app’s Proguard config: -keep class androidx.car.app.model.signin.InputSignInMethod { *; }

Version 1.1.0-alpha01

June 16, 2021

androidx.car.app:app:1.1.0-alpha01, androidx.car.app:app-automotive:1.1.0-alpha01, and androidx.car.app:app-testing:1.1.0-alpha01 are released. Version 1.1.0-alpha01 contains these commits.

New Features

• API Level 2: new SignInTemplate and LongMessageTemplate that can be used for sign-in flows when the vehicle is parked.
• API Level 2: new map interactivity support within the NavigationTemplate
• API Level 2: new multiple-length text support to allow apps to provide multiple versions of string for display depending on the car screen sizes.
• Follow the development guide and the library Javadoc for additional details and design guidelines on how to use these features in car hosts that are compatible with API level 2.

API Changes

• Made all *Callback interface methods default and renamed OnRequestPermissionsCallback -> OnRequestPermissionsListener (Ib3ec9)
• Updated androidx.car.app.hardware classes to remove unnecessary builders and parameter classes. (I67beb)
• Added androidx.car.app.hardware classes for access to car specific data such as fuel, battery and speed. (Iff3c9)
• Added ActionStrip support on MessageTemplate (Ida657)
• Added setLoading to MessageTemplate. (I2a4b5)
• Renamed ConnectionToCar to CarConnection (Ife9bd)
• Changed NavigationTemplate to return an explicit PanModeDelegate (I13877)
• Updated parameter order for CarContext.requestPermissions (Ib890a)
• Updated metadata key to define min car api level to androidx.car.api.minCarApiLevel (Ib0d41)
• Created an API that allows observing car connection state (Ifc935)
• Added support for setting a toggle for an Action, and added the pan mode Action type (Ica6af)
• Created CarNotificationManager to support sending notification in the car (I10d7a)
• Added ConstraintManager for providing list limits from the host (I8690e)
• Added pan mode and map action strip API in NavigationTemplate (I77aa6)
• Added pan and zoom API in SurfaceCallback for navigation apps (Id5e9d)
• Updated CarAppApiLevel to 2 (Ic1540)
• Added ability to request permissions from a CarAppService (I5421e)
• Added RequiresCarApi(2) annotation to multi-text API (Iacb62)
• Allowed multiple text variants in the half-list template title (Ib8df7)
• Added new LongMessageTemplate (requires Car API level 2) (Ic5cee)

Bug Fixes

• Updated image size requirements to account for larger car screens (I116dc)
• Disallowed adding more than 2 actions in template bodies (I32157)
• Ensured all creation of PendingIntents in the car app library set flags. (If84fe, b/186394900)
• Updated javadoc to allow Row's text changes as refreshes (If3f9c)
• androidx.activity:activity:1.2.0 is now an api dependency (Id1cb9)
• Made SignInTemplate and LongMessageTemplate to require parked-only actions in their body and update documentation to indicate they will only be shown when the car is parked (Iddaa9)
• Fixed an exception that occurs when popping a Screen during start (Ifcf40, b/184664896)
• Allowed custom text color in ForegroundCarColorSpan (I69e59)
• Fixed an issue where ON_DESTROY on a Session is observed after a Screen's ON_DESTROY (I52e01, b/183696617)
• Updated javadoc on when setting a TravelEstimate's remaining time to an unknown time is allowed. (I99610, b/183632456)
• Updated Action to support ForegroundColorSpan in the title and any custom background color (I578e4)
• Do not execute NavigationManagerCallback#onStopNavigation if the callback is cleared before the executor executes (I7fc5e, b/181143772)
• Fixed an issue that require the app to explicitly take on a dependency on lifecycle-common-java8 (I8b8c8)

Known Issues

• In the SignInTemplate, the on-screen keyboard shows a “search” icon instead of an “enter” icon when the user wants to confirm the input. As a workaround, users can access the phone keyboard that activates when the input field is in focus.
• In Android Auto version 6.5, the pan and zoom callbacks in SurfaceCallback may be incorrectly invoked for some touch gestures.

Car App Testing Version 1.0.0

Version 1.0.0-alpha01

March 24, 2021

androidx.car.app:app-testing:1.0.0-alpha01 is released. Version 1.0.0-alpha01 contains these commits.

This is the first Jetpack release of the previously closed source testing library. Refer to our samples on how to use this library in your tests.

New Features

• The controllers for the model classes have been removed. Model getters are now part of the public API surface which allows for validating values that were set in the builders.
• The previous CarAppServiceController has been replaced by the new SessionController for testing logic related to the lifetime of the connection to the hots.

Version 1.0.0

Version 1.0.0

April 21, 2021

androidx.car.app:app:1.0.0 is released. Version 1.0.0 contains these commits.

Major features of 1.0.0

• In early April, we announced that apps can start publishing to the production channel using androidx.car.app:app:1.0.0-rc01. Car App Library v1.0.0 is now stable and is fully compatible with Android Auto 6.1 and above.
• Follow the development guide for details on how to build navigation, parking, and charging apps for Android Auto using the library.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an exception that occurs when popping a Screen during start (70aae1, b/184664896)
• Fixed an issue where ON_DESTROY on a Session is observed after a Screen's ON_DESTROY (0ceecb, b/183696617)

Version 1.0.0-rc01

March 24, 2021

androidx.car.app:app:1.0.0-rc01 is released. Version 1.0.0-rc01 contains these commits.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a race condition bug where NavigationManagerCallback#onStopNavigation was being called after the callback was cleared. This happened if the callback was cleared before the callback executor actually ran (I7fc5e, b/181143772)
• Fixed an issue that required the app to explicitly take a dependency on lifecycle-common-java8 (I8b8c8)
• Fixed a NullPointerException that was thrown when the app receives a stopNavigation call when it has already removed a callback (Ib8b89, b/181143772)
• Improvements to not dispatch calls to app if its lifecycle is not at least in a CREATED state (I86965, b/179800224, b/177921120)
• Fixed an issue where an invalid min API specified in the app's manifest would throw, causing an ANR on the host. (Iffedd, b/174231592)

Version 1.0.0-beta01

February 24, 2021

androidx.car.app:app:1.0.0-beta01 is released. Version 1.0.0-beta01 contains these commits.

This is the first Jetpack release of the previously closed source library, and is compatible with Android Auto 6.1 or above. Follow the development guide for details on how to build car apps using the library.

New Features

• Introduced a GridTemplate which your app can use to show a list of UI elements in a grid layout.
• Introduced a CarAppService.createHostValidator method to validate that a host connection is from a trusted source (for example, Android Auto).
• Added a CarAppExtender.Builder.setColor API. (b/174231592)

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the wrong Screen is resumed when popping screens sequentially. (b/177590791)