Android Auto 18.0 update starts rolling out, continues to gear up for redesign

Ben Schoon | Oct 13 2026 - 1:45 pm PT

Announced earlier this year, Google continues to set the stage for its next Android Auto redesign behind the scenes, which might be codenamed “Cielo.”

About APK Insight: In this “APK Insight” post, we’ve decompiled the latest version of an application that Google uploaded to the Play Store. When we decompile these files (called APKs, in the case of Android apps), we’re able to see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features. Keep in mind that Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect. We’ll try to enable those that are closer to being finished, however, to show you how they’ll look in case that they do ship. With that in mind, read on.

Google is now starting its rollout – in beta – of Android Auto 18.0. While that sounds like some milestone, the update itself is just as underwhelming as most Android Auto app updates have been. No new user-facing features we’ve spotted, and likely just some assorted bug fixes throughout.

In a teardown, “cielo_launcher” did appear as a new asset, which might be the best indication we’ve seen that this is the codename for Google’s next Android Auto redesign. This codename has been appearing for months in Android Auto’s flags – the folks over at Android Sage mention v15.9, but we’ve seen references as far back as v15.7 in November 2025 – but “launcher” points pretty directly at this being the replacement for “Coolwalk,” which was the codename of Android Auto’s dashboard redesign back in 2023. “Coolwalk_launcher” showed up in Android Auto’s code years ago as the dashboard was being build out.

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Prior Android Auto updates mentioning “cielo” also mentioned screen layouts, which might tie into how Android Auto’s new design is set to cover more of the display and support widgets.

Android Auto is getting a redesign that takes up your whole display, adds widget support, more

“Coolwalk” didn’t have a direct meaning, but “Cielo” is a real word in Italian and Spanish meaning “sky.” It’s unclear if that has any meaning, though.

As far as Android Auto 18.0 goes, this update is purely just building on the redesign, as there’s nothing (at least that we’ve found) that actually implies it’s imminent. Notably, there’s also the use of “Coolwalk” in the flags here too around the light/dark theme that Google has been building out for what feels like an eternity at this point, but nothing particularly suggestive of when that feature might actually debut – it’s still not live in this update.