Head-up displays while driving have always been a dream use for AR glasses, and now it looks like they may soon become a reality.
Looking at the navigation screen while driving is undoubtedly dangerous. So having guidance overlaid on your glasses to help you stay focused on the road makes a lot of sense.
Now Google has this feature on board and it looks like they are closer to rolling it out with the new Android Auto update.
The update allows drivers to integrate AR glasses so that Android Auto’s orientation is displayed directly on the lenses.
The new feature was revealed in the Android Authority APK teardown of Android Auto version 14.2.151544.
Specifically, this was spotted in the Hindi version, which provides an option to "Start navigation to see navigation on your smart glasses.”
It appears to be in the early stages of development as it is only a few lines of code at the moment. This makes sense, considering there aren’t many full-featured AR glasses options. Leaks about the launch of new Meta AI glasses may fit well into this.
Glasses may be perfect for driving, but they can also be an amazing addition to your motorcycle helmet with AR display capabilities. It’s not clear how this will work with Android Auto and the visor overlay, but it’s likely something Google would be worth the effort for its very receptive audience.
Lucky timing?
It feels like this is a bit of a tease of hidden code, but the timing could potentially be interesting.
This follows Google’s recent TED 2025 demo of Android XR glasses.
A powerful feature in this demo was the use of Gemini AI, which can remember what it has seen. In the demo, the person was asked where she put her glasses and the AI was able to tell her where they were.
If you apply this to driving, it can be a really useful guidance function as well as a memory function. Not to mention how helpful it can be in finding a past coffee shop, gas station, or easy spot to stop.
Although it’s still early days, this could be the start of some very exciting and truly useful AR developments.