(Credit: Google)
Android 16 will complete the replacement of the Google Assistant with Gemini Live, the no-subscription-needed chatbot offshoot of its Gemini AI platform. It brings that AI assistant to devices beyond phones, and not just to the watches that you might expect, but also to cars, TVs, and extended-reality headsets.
In a press roundtable ahead of Tuesday's pre-I/O "Android Show," Google representatives emphasized that it won’t be the same Gemini in all these contexts. The AI will also come with different requirements for connectivity.
For example, the Gemini experience in Wear OS and Android Auto will require a data connection, said Guemmy Kim, senior director of product and UX for Android. But in cars with Google built-in, such as Ford and Polestar, Gemini will offer limited offline support.
Gemini’s answers to spoken-word queries from drivers and passengers should also be shorter, although some of the sample questions shown off in the roundtable did not seem to be short-form material. (For example: “Can you give me a quick rundown of the news today, but leave out sports?") The touted support for translating messages may also lead to prolonged conversations with Gemini Live.
The car version of Gemini will first be available on Android Auto in the coming months and later this year on Google built-in.
Gemini’s appearance in Google TV is also booked for sometime later in 2025, but it’s not clear which existing models will get updates. Android communications manager Kaori Miyake didn’t get into specifics when asked about that in the roundtable, although she did call out TCL as one of the vendors that Google has been working with.
How Gemini will surface in Android XR, a platform that Google is building in collaboration with Samsung, remains unclear. For that and other aspects of Google’s software future, I/O itself–with a keynote starting at 10 a.m. Pacific on Tuesday, May 20, may offer more details.
For more, check out Google Can Put Siri to Shame and Fix the Biggest Problem with Voice Assistants.