If a new report from CNET is accurate, then Google and Audi could be poised to announce a new and high profile business partnership in the first days of the New Year.

Tech industry analysts have caught wind of a rumor that Audi and Google are working on a new Android-based entertainment and information system that would appear in vehicles. The Android car system would allow Audi drivers to easily perform tasks that they normally would with their smartphone – such as selecting and controlling music, reading and sending text messages, or dealing with maps and navigation – right through the car system itself. The two companies are expected to announce their partnership at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show, which will take place January 7-10.

Car and mobile device integration is becoming more pivotal in the modern age, thanks to increasingly strict legislation which has, in several states, banned drivers from texting or making calls while holding their phone. Hands-free interfaces are the way of the future when it comes to driver-device interactions, and mobile device integration could, for that reason, be the next big improvement that car companies add to their vehicle models.

Google isn’t the first company to jump on the mobile device car integration concept, though. That title belongs to Apple, which announced plans for “iOS in the Car” at its annual Worldwide Developer’ Conference earlier this year. The iOS in the Car system is essentially built with hands-free phone use in mind. Drivers with an iOS device could hook it up to the car and then control it through the vehicle’s dashboard interface rather than trying to distractedly navigate the menus of a phone or tablet while driving. So far, Apple has worked up contracts with Honda, Mercedes, BMW, Ferrari, Kia, Infiniti, Nissan, and Hyundai to integrate iOS device use into their car systems.

The partnership between Google and Audi would obviously be more exclusive and would only see Android integration with Audi automobiles. Whether Google is looking to sign other car companies to its Android platform has not yet been made evident.

However, Google does seem to be making an effort to render its Android car system more accessible than Apple’s. Where iOS in the Car would require a driver to actually have an iOS device, Audi’s version of Android would be able to work independently of a mobile device, meaning drivers without an Android phone would still be able to take advantage of the operating system and its potential for navigation, entertainment, communication, and more, all through their vehicle’s built-in hardware system.