Spotify expands its presence in automobiles

Spotify yesterday was the latest to expand its presence in millions of automobiles.

Its Android app introduced to MirrorLink, a standard for in-dash smartphone interfaces through a new app called RockScout. The Spotify app is already available to the music obsessed in vehicles through Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto in-dash systems, as well as on connected-car platforms from BMW and Ford.

These systems allow drivers to use their cars’ controls and speakers for apps that run on their mobile devices, rather than scrambling for their phones. Some carmakers like GM offer their own built-in interfaces.

Streaming is one of the most used of in-car technologies, especially among younger drivers. In five years, 250 million cars will have a wireless network connection, predicts market research firm Gartner.

Car manufacturers were initially slow to realise the shift in consumer listening habits, but not digital music companies.

Lawrence Kennedy, Senior Product Owner for Automotive at Spotify, said, "Spotify is obsessed with figuring out how to bring music into every part of your life, wherever you are, whatever you're doing.

“MirrorLink provides a simple way to bring Spotify into the car and on the dashboard so listeners can access their favorite music in a manner suitable for the driving environment."

“The whole concept is to give folks a more responsible way to use applications on their phone while driving,” says Alan Ewing, president and executive director of the Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC), which developed MirrorLink.

The CCC has 100 members which represent 70% of the world’s auto market, 70% of the global smartphone market and the top names in aftermarket consumer electronics vendors.

MirrorLink already offered radio and music through Australian digital media platform miRoamer.

Ewing estimates that MirrorLink is available on 100 million smartphones as Samsung, Sony and LG, and installed in 20 million cars globally including the Volkswagen, GM, Toyota, Honda and Volvo.

Five years ago, only 5% of American mobile phone users listened to internet radio in their cars. This year, as Edison Research and Triton Digital discovered, that figure has risen to 35% — and 59% in the 12 to 24 age group.

Streaming ranked in the Top 30 in a survey of new car buyers on what they wanted from a list of 200 features. Younger drivers and passengers clearly don’t want to waste a minute deciding whether it's on the phone or in the dashboard.

"When you get the younger buyer, connectivity is huge. When they see our research, it's the No. 1 reason they purchase a car," says Scott Keogh, President of Audi America, which has pre-wired its 2015 A3 sedan to provide customers access to thousands of streaming Internet stations.

43% of new cars bought in the six months to April this year had streaming-app functionality. Reported the latest Strategic Vision annual survey. Additional data from Gartner Research puts high-speed wireless service options in 70% to 80% of new vehicles by the year 2020.

Currently only 9% of drivers and passengers stream online radio, with 53% still opting to listen to AM/FM radio.