Android Auto Finally Gets YouTube – Minus Its Most Important Feature

As part of an ongoing process to improve how you use your car's infotainment screen and make the in-car system tie into your Android phone and its applications better, Google has reportedly brought YouTube to Android Auto. Now, before you start jumping for joy, the feature — at least based on the comments we're seeing on Reddit so far — appears to be somewhat limited. That's because while Android Auto users have reported seeing YouTube playback controls on their Android Auto home screen, there doesn't yet appear to be any way to watch videos on the car's built-in screen. At least not yet.

The ability to watch videos and do other interactive things in your car has been a bit of a hot topic since the screens within our vehicles began to grow much larger. We've seen support for gaming in Tesla vehicles, and even Rivian has jumped on board with support for streaming videos with Google Cast. However, any real native support for YouTube in Android Auto has been basically nonexistent until now. Previously, users say they had to control YouTube from their phone if they wanted to listen while they drove. This, of course, can be extremely dangerous, and it is never recommended to mess around with your phone while operating a vehicle.

While the playback controls do appear for some Android Auto users now, reports suggest that you don't have as much control over the video as you do in the app. You can't fast-forward through videos, as pressing the "Next" button will just skip to the next video, and there's no way to control what video you're selecting.

YouTube and online videos are basically synonymous in this day and age. While there are other video platforms, YouTube garnered over one billion hours of watch time in 2024 on TV apps alone, which means it has a huge audience looking for their latest fix of cat videos, music videos, podcasts, and more. As such, the inclusion of YouTube on Android Auto without proper support for video might feel a bit odd, especially since video is a heavily talked-about feature on Android Auto communities. After all, YouTube is for watching videos, even if there are different types of content found on the platform.

So why is video missing? Well, one key reason may have to do with safety. Watching videos or using your phone while driving is considered distracted driving in most jurisdictions, and there has even been a rise in reports of accidents caused by this behavior. While it is far too early to tell if the exclusion of video was purposeful on Google and YouTube's part, the fact that it isn't there is impossible to miss. 

Additionally, it's important to note that because this new feature requires background playback in order to work, you can't actually use it if you're a free YouTube user. That means you'll need to subscribe to at least the YouTube Premium Lite plan, which runs for $7.99 and just received background playback as a new feature in February. Beyond appearing to launch some support for YouTube, Android Auto recently brought an update to 16 different car brands that makes planning EV trips much easier, too.