Until somewhat recently, I didn't realize wireless Android Auto requires both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to function. Look, I know it's probably a silly assumption for me to make. Of course, I've hooked my phone up to my car's peer-to-peer 5GHz Wi-Fi connection, but I thought this was only required for the initial setup and that after that, the wireless connection was handled over Bluetooth (no, I didn't really think about why it wasn't required for the initial setup). Then one day, I got in my car and wireless Android Auto just wouldn't connect. I spent a solid 15 minutes troubleshooting, and as far as I could tell, there was no clear reason why my Pixel 10 Pro wouldn't connect to my car. To my surprise, the issue was very simple: I had Wi-Fi turned off on my phone. This is when I realized wireless Android Auto requires both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to function. Now that I own a vehicle that natively supports wireless Android Auto, I decided it was finally time to do a bit of research and get to the bottom of what actually connects my Android device to my vehicle. Here's why Android Auto requires both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to function Most features are handled over Wi-Fi, but Bluetooth still plays an important role At a base level, both wireless technologies serve a specific purpose. When I turn my car on, Bluetooth performs the initial connection and the all-important handshake with my vehicle, pairing the two. Bluetooth is then used to share the information required to connect both devices over Wi-Fi. This is why in the situation above, my car continued trying to connect to Android Auto, but couldn't because I had Wi-Fi turned off on my phone. Apart from establishing the initial connection, Bluetooth is also used