Yes, you can play YouTube in Android Auto! However, accessing this app is more difficult than others because you can’t actually download it on the Google Play Store. But there is a way to download the YouTube app so that you can use it on your Android Auto system, let’s take a look at how you do this.
But before we do that, let’s make it clear that you shouldn’t be using this app while you are driving. If you do use it while driving, it should be controlled by a passenger, and only they should watch what is being displayed on the screen. Your eyes should remain on the road at all times. Android Auto has strict policies, and the danger of drivers being distracted by a YouTube style app is the reason you cannot download this through the Google Play Store.
In order to download the ‘YouTubeAuto’ app then you will need to sideload it onto your device using APK sideload. Once you have done that, you will then have to run the Android Auto system in developer mode, otherwise the service will block the app from running.
Figuring out how to do this can be tricky to begin with, but once you get the hang of it, the process of side loading is easy, find out more about how to complete this hack here.