Google's Android Auto has been steadily gaining ground with car manufacturers, but has been quite limited geographically, as it was available only in 11 countries. 

That changed today, as the feature has been launched in 18 new countries, plus the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. 

SEE ALSO:Ford SYNC adds Android Auto, more AppLink apps and 4G LTE for 2017

The full list is as follows: Argentina, Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, India, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Russia, Switzerland, Uruguay and Venezuela. 

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Full speed ahead. 💨 #AndroidAuto is now available in 18 new countries: 🇦🇷 🇦🇹 🇧🇴 🇧🇷 🇨🇭 🇨🇱 🇨🇴 🇨🇷 🇩🇴 🇪🇨 🇬🇹 🇮🇳 🇵🇦 🇵🇪 🇵🇾 🇷🇺 🇺🇾 🇻🇪 , plus 🇵🇷 too!

— Android (@Android) April 4, 2016

Android Auto lets you access smartphone apps and functions directly from your car's dashboard. Besides giving you an overview of what's happening on your phone, it also lets you access Maps, control music, make phone calls, send or receive messages, and access a variety of compatible apps, including Pandora, Skype and Spotify. 

Even though today's update is a huge update for Android Auto -- especially considering the size of some of this markets, such as Russia or India -- it still trails behind Apple's CarPlay, which is currently available in 33 markets, including China. 

For a full list of compatible cars, as well as all 29 markets it's available in, go here. 

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TopicsAndroidGoogleCars