Polestar 2 owners worldwide including Australia are now able to install Amazon Prime Video in their car through the Google’s Android Automotive OS Play Store.
As I happen to have a Polestar 2 MY24 Dual Motor Long Range on media review loan this week I tried out watching Prime Video in the car while I was at a local charger today.
Hands on testing Prime Video app on Australian Polestar 2 MY24 Dual Motor Long Range
Installing the Prime Video app and logging on through the car OS worked fine. Prime Video works on the Polestar 2 while the car is parked, regardless of whether it is charging or not. Data is downloaded via the Polestar built-in unmetered Optus connection.
Earlier this year I asked Polestar what connectivity their Australian cars have and they told me “Optus with a Singapore Singtel IP address. Later this year it will switch to a local IP address”.
As you can see below in the first photo, once I logged in to Prime Video on the Polestar 2, the Amazon app on my phone displayed a security warning because it detected a login from Singapore.
As you can see in the second photo the tablet display in the car shows the Prime Video app telling me that it thinks I’m travelling outside of Australia because of the car having a foreign IP address, so I don’t get access to all the Australian content.
In the third photo you can see that it’s not just me. The IP address problem is across all Australian Polestar 2 vehicles and has been the case since the car was launched here.
Background History
Polestar 2 was the first car on the market to feature Google’s Android Automotive OS with Google built-in when it launched in 2019. In Australia Polestar sister company Volvo also uses Android Automotive as the car OS for their electric cars such as the XC40 Recharge.
Since launch, Polestar has regularly released useful apps for the car, including the likes of Waze, A Better Routeplanner (ABRP), AccuWeather, Range Assistant, Journey Log and the Performance app for dual-motor cars.
Polestar 2 has also featured the Vivaldi web browser since December 2021, this enables web access to other entertainment services that don’t have a native in-car app.
Thomas Ingenlath, Polestar CEO, commented:
“The successful launch and integration of Android Automotive OS in Polestar 2 has proven that we can leverage the best navigation and voice control in the business to make life with a Polestar easier. The Google Play Store has also gained a rich variety of apps that offer interactivity and entertainment, from playing games to streaming series.”
“The launch and ongoing development of Android Automotive OS in Polestar 2, which has been done in close collaboration with Google, has laid the foundations for Polestar’s forthcoming cars. Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 feature an evolution of the interface with larger screens and more capability. Apps developed for Polestar 2 are planned to be available in future cars as well.”
