I've googled this several times over the past year. There does not seem to be any recent news regarding when BMW/Mini will add support for Android auto. It is baffling. But maybe someone else will spot something.
I thought after BMW added Android Auto support last year that MINI would follow soon after, but no such luck so far.
It is well known that android, google and google auto embraces the ‘minimum viable product’ concept which has pushed a lot of bad and dangerous code through. Version and release control is seriously lacking. App quality control is none existent. It saves big bucks for the developer because it doesn’t go through with the proper level of testing or vetting. Puts a lot of burden off onto an integrator concerned about quality and eventually the customer. Plenty of bugs but more serious is opportunity for privacy invasion and hacking. The typical target for android is cheap, quick to market and because its cheap customers don't mind. Nothing wrong with that, but it gives some pause. I'm guessing it doesn't meet Mini quality standards, or they haven't completed their quality checks and quality seems to be important to their target market. Once they start selling less than capacity, the bean counters may put more pressure.
I think that may be a bit harsh. Maybe it was true 10 years ago but I haven't had any issues with android auto on my wife's Subaru or really any of my last couple Android phones. And based on many posts on this forum about connection issues, Apple car play isn't exactly bug free either... If BMW put more effort into their built in Nav and voice control I wouldn't mind the lack of Android Auto but out of the dozens of times I've used the MINI system, it has gone smoothly exactly 0 times. I don't even try anymore and just use Google maps on my phone. For example: Voice command: "navigate to xxx" MINI: ok, calling contact xxx Voice command: : navigate to Starbucks" MINI: ok, navigating to the Starbucks in another city instead of the one 3mi away Repeatedly trying to navigate me through closed or non-existent roads (while Google maps knew the correct route)
One can still use either the standalone Android Auto maps app (soon to go away, per Google) OR just run Google Maps standalone app on your Android phone using a phone mount somewhere in the car. Here is a link to one that @F14Scott has recommended and that I now use too -- from Amazon, and not cheap, but really great. Thanks again, @F14Scott! https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07QT9H89S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_Q3J6ZJPJSYPYCC6NYA7T?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
The lack of Android Auto is a real puzzle. I thought that the work around would be to use Android Auto on my phone, but Google is killing that off. However, just today, I learned about the “Hey Google Let’s Drive” command and that looks like it might be a good option for those that want to use our phones and connect to the Mini’s Bluetooth system. https://9to5google.com/2021/09/12/google-assistant-driving-mode-homescreen/
The waste of the beautiful screen and domain controller hardware, coupled with the safety compromise of phone placement options are disappointing.
I posted on another thread about this but I believe it's a hardware issue. Mini uses the idrive 6 system which was only apple play compatible (and the same as BMWs from 2019 and older) and new BMW's from 2020 onwards use idrive 7 which can use android auto. Mini didn't bother to put idrive 7 in the Mini SE probably because they will just implement in the SE 2024 model.
In case others want to try this: AAI Drive is an open source app built to allow certain Android apps (not google maps, but many popular listening apps, calendar, phone, etc.) to connect with the Mini. You can grab it from the Google play app store. I don't have my Mini yet to test, but I plan to.
