Android Auto and Android Automotive OS are often confused despite being fundamentally different systems. Android Auto is powered by a driver's smartphone and projects a simplified interface for navigation, music and messaging onto a compatible car display, functioning much like Google's answer to Apple CarPlay. Android Automotive OS (AAOS), by contrast, runs directly on the vehicle's own hardware, requiring no phone at all and giving carmakers deeper control over infotainment, instrument displays, climate and EV data.

The distinction matters for buyers checking spec sheets, since a car can support one, both, or neither depending on how the manufacturer builds it. Adding further complexity, "Google built-in" is a separately licensed package of Google services, such as native Maps and Play Store, that can sit on top of AAOS but isn't part of the open-source platform itself; Rivian, for instance, uses AAOS without Android Auto or CarPlay, while Polestar supports Google built-in alongside both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. The Polestar 2 was the first production car to feature Android Automotive OS, in 2020.