In a discussion on the Google Developer Channel, Android boss Sameer Samat discusses Android 17 updates, the future of AI on Android, Gemini car updates on Android Automotive, and more.
At the beginning of the debate there is an interesting acknowledgment from Google: yes, people don’t want to hear about AI anymore. The Android Show made no mention of “AI” even though almost all new features are powered by AI. Sameer Samat explains that an effort was made to focus not on the technology that powers these features, but on how the user actually benefits from those features.
The conversation delves into the future of Android’s AI-powered features, including Gboard “Rambler” previously announced – which has a great demo in the video – as well as “Superfill” for forms, both parts of Google Gemini Intelligence push.
One of the most important notes here is about “Android Halo”, a feature that was AThe main point of mention of Android at the Google I/O keynotebut it wasn’t really explained.
Samat explains Halo in the context of AI agents and says:
The way Android handles this is that we have announced this new concept called Android Halo. And what Android Halo is is a place, a dedicated location in the status bar, where your agent of choice (Gemini or another agent) can update you and get information from you about the task or tasks you’re asking them to perform. So these agents doing things in the background for you will want to ask you a question, give you an update, show you the result, or whatever. So you can follow it and we think it’s a new and interesting point about how computing can evolve and the operating system makes it easier for you to interact with these things that execute long-running tasks.
While we have yet to see a full interaction with Halo, it seems like the idea here is basically like that of live notifications. The persistent icon gives users a one-touch way to quickly check in with AI tasks, with a dedicated location that won’t move or vary between apps.
The discussion then ends by shifting to a car with Google integrated: Android Automotive, as it is also known.
In the vehicle, Samat offers a quick look at some additional Gemini improvements coming to the car, including the ability to use natural language to adjust climate control, lane assist, and more. But much better is that Gemini can connect to the front cameras of this particular car, so you can use it to ask questions about what is happening in front of the vehicle.
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