Unveiled at this year’s Google I/O, the interface provides Android smartphone users with features ‘including turn-by-turn navigation from Google Maps, your curated playlists and radio stations through Play Music, simple-to-use voice search, and reminders from Google Now,’ according to Google’s blog, which adds that ‘this is accessible through your car’s controls, and more importantly, is far safer than fumbling around with your phone.’

The new interface is set to be available in cars later this year, with Volvo becoming the latest carmaker to sign up to the Open Automotive Alliance to make the Android smartphone platform available to drivers along with Audi, GM, Honda and Hyundai and others.

The carmaker said that Android Auto will be available on all new Volvo cars based on the new Scalable Product Architecture (SPA), starting with the all-new XC90, due to be publically revealed at this year’s Paris Motor Show, with a similar arrangement having been agreed for Apple CarPlay.

Volvo also said that its portrait touch screen provides users with the benefit of having both Volvo Cars and Android Auto content on the screen simultaneously, removing the need to switch between car and Android phone screens.

‘Android smartphone users will feel completely at home in a new Volvo. We have created a wholly integrated user experience in our large portrait-oriented touch screen that takes the in-car mobile device experience to a new level. That, coupled with the obvious driver safety benefits of an advanced voice control system offered by Google, made Android Auto a perfect match for Volvo,’ said Håkan Samuelsson, president and CEO of Volvo Cars.