The distant display emulator can be used to emulate the multi-screen hardware
found in some vehicles. Specifically, it emulates a device with a touch-enabled
center screen and a non-touch dashboard screen. One example scenario for such a
setup would be for a user to send a video app to the dashboard screen while
continuing to use the center screen to look up a destination in a navigation
app.
![The Automotive Distant Display emulator](https://developer.android.com/static/training/cars/images/dd.png) The Automotive Distant Display emulator.

## Move apps using the system UI

The primary way that users move apps to and from the distant display is using a
system UI affordance. In the distant display emulator, this can be found in the
status bar at the top of the screen.
![](https://developer.android.com/static/training/cars/images/to_dd.png) is the button
to send the app to the distant display and
![](https://developer.android.com/static/training/cars/images/from_dd.png) is the
button to return it to the main display. If your app is in immersive
mode---that is, it's hidden the system bars---you'll need to reveal the status bar to
show these controls.

## Move apps using adb

In addition to the system UI affordance, you can use the following adb commands
to move apps to and from the distant display.

    user_id=$(adb shell am get-current-user)
    adb shell am broadcast -a com.android.systemui.car.intent.action.MOVE_TASK --user $user_id --es move "to_dd"
    adb shell am broadcast -a com.android.systemui.car.intent.action.MOVE_TASK --user $user_id --es move "from_dd"

## Control media playback using adb

For apps that have [integrated with media session](https://developer.android.com/media/media3/session/control-playback), you can use the following
command to control playback. For example, you can use this command to control
playback of a video app while it's on the distant display.

    adb shell cmd media_session dispatch COMMAND

> [!TIP]
> **Tip:** Run `adb shell cmd media_session` to see full usage information.