If you asked someone a couple of decades ago if they thought the cell phone and the car would ever work hand in hand, they would probably all tell you that’s crazy. And yet it happened: Google designed Android Auto to use the mobile phone on the car screen and then created Android Automotive, a operating system directly integrated into vehicles.
Gradually, both alternatives have gained ground, but Google wants to cover everything and has decided to go further, setting a new milestone: Android officially arrives on motorbikes in an integrated way thanks to Android Automotive. Yes, now your motorcycle will also have its own Android-based operating system.
Google and the famous motorcycle manufacturer KTM have just announced an alliance that no one expected. From now on, many of KTM’s products will include a TFT touch screen where all information about the bike and more will be displayed. One screen model will be the V80 (8” vertical) and the other the H88 (8.8” horizontal)..
What’s so special about this? Nothing so far, but It turns out that they will have Android Automotive as their operating system. Yes, Android Automotive will now also be available on motorcycles, although there will certainly be some changes compared to the car version.
Until today, The most we had seen were motorcycles with Android Autolike the Harley-Davidson Road Glide or the Honda Gold Wing. These use your cell phone to do their infotainment job, but the new KTMs won’t need that.
Screens with Android Automotive will serve to interact with offline navigation. What does this mean? Through it you will see speed, motorcycle speed, fuel level, lighting control, seat heating and more. Next, telemetry and other basic features.
However, KTM also announced its system It supports eSIM, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. With this you can use the new system for navigate on maps (online or offline)control your favorite music, answer calls, view your contact list and more. Of course, for safety reasons, many of these features will only be available while parking.
The new KTM dashboard with Android Automotive It will be available on premium motorcycles of the brand. However, KTM indicated this They hope to expand availability to more affordable models in the future.
On purpose, Android Automotive can be updated in this dashboard from KTM, so bugs can always be fixed and new features added. Likewise, if you want to know some additional details about the system, we leave you its summary file here:
- Models V80 (8 inches vertical) and H88 (8.8 inches horizontal).
- TFT screens with rHD solution (1280 x 720 pixels) and 256,000 colors.
- The panels are coated anti-reflective, anti-fingerprint and anti-glare.
- The tactile system It can be used both with and without gloves..
- Five different interface designsdepending on the information you want to view.
- 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.
- Android Automotive operating system (updateable).
- eSIM, GPS, Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity.
Finally, there’s a little detail you should know that you probably don’t know: Android Automotive is an open source operating system, therefore any manufacturer can take it and adapt it to their needs, being able to choose whether to opt for Google services or not. Come on, it’s like AOSP and Android.
This is excellent, given that other brands will soon be able to join KTM’s new idea, without too many complications. The result? Android Automotive on multiple bikes.
