Over the last few years, Google has made inroads into the automotive industry with Android Auto to mirror your phone’s features for in-car infotainment, and Android Automotive, an operating system specifically designed for cars, complete with Play Store support and built-in Google Assistant. Now its next step sounds even more ambitious, as the company has announced a new partnership with the French carmaker Renault to create a “software-defined vehicle” based on Android Automotive.

Back in 2018, Google partnered with the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance to bring Android Automotive to several car models made by one of the largest groups of companies in the automotive industry. Under the new agreement, Google will be Renault’s “preferred cloud provider” and the brands will use Google’s cloud servers to create a “Digital Twin,” an AI-powered virtual copy of a vehicle.

With combined software development and testing, the companies hope to create a simulation where AI-powered features for the vehicle can be created. A major component of the system also includes the ability to add the new features to the vehicle’s repertoire via OTA updates.

Ideally, such a system could facilitate real-time diagnostics of automotive issues. The system could also make for a highly personalized in-car software experience, much like how we can customize Android to our liking today. The companies suggest we could see insurance models tailored to individual usage and driving behavior, and cars adapting to how they are driven. We had a glimpse of what this could mean for the average car owner with the Polestar 2 in 2020, but have heard little since.

Honestly, all the talk surrounding this Renault-Google system of the future is coming off as very buzzwordy — promising little and sounding rather ambiguous — and it's pretty difficult to get a real sense of what this effort will actually accomplish. Hopefully, we soon start to see real-world developments to the software experience in Android Automotive and Renault-branded cars. Until that happens, you’re most probably stuck using Android Auto on your daily driver.