Bluetooth Car System Announced For Android Users

With so much attention recently on iOS integration with car systems, it’s easy to forget that Android users like to pair their smartphones to their vehicle too. Chipmaker Broadcom, one of the world’s foremost semiconductor vendors, has stepped up to address that oversight. On Thursday, the company announced its Android Automotive Bluetooth stack, promising to deliver better audio quality for phone calls and higher fidelity music streaming from Android devices.

The new software is available now for industrial customers like car manufacturers, but for the time being, Broadcom isn’t releasing an SDK for consumers and tinkerers. 

“The choice of in-vehicle technology is becoming more important as consumer demand for seamless mobile and wearable device connectivity continues to rise. Auto makers and tier one suppliers are looking for robust, feature-rich and flexible operating systems that are relatively painless and easy to deploy,” said Richard Barrett, Broadcom director of wireless connectivity in a press statement. “Our automotive Bluetooth software stack combines Broadcom’s proven expertise in software development and widely deployed wireless connectivity with high performance profiles optimized for use in the evolving automotive environment.”

Broadcom is no stranger to open platforms, having previously collaborated with the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and open-sourced its NFC NCI stack.

“Open platforms continue their march forward in automotive with more and more car makers and tier one suppliers transitioning to open source platforms such as Android,” said ABI Research VP Dominique Bonte. “The automotive industry is set for a number of dramatic paradigm shifts and the adoption of open source platforms is just one example. In this regard, the automotive industry can mirror and keep pace with trends in mobile.”

In addition to pairing with your Android smartphone, Broadcom’s solution is also designed to integrate with wearable devices, including those already available as well as those on the horizon. The company says its Bluetooth technology will be capable of monitoring a driver’s health and generate alerts pertaining to fatigue and blood alcohol content.