Audi Debuts First Native Spotify In-Car App With Passenger-Screen Features
Audi is first to offer Spotify's dedicated in-car app, co-developed with Cariad, adding music videos and live lyrics.
The app differs from the template-based Spotify offering already available for cars running Android Automotive, according to TechRadar. Those systems use standardized layouts and controls and limit access to features Spotify has added in recent years. Spotify automotive business development lead Jonathan Tarlton told The Verge that Spotify was “drawing all the pixels” during development and that it owns the user experience, which he described as “100 percent Spotify.”
In Audi models, the native app uses a layout closer to the desktop version and exploits larger infotainment displays. When a passenger screen is fitted, front-seat passengers can watch Spotify music videos while the car is moving, view real-time lyrics, scan QR codes to join listening parties or create road-trip playlists. The central display can perform the same functions, but Audi blocks them once the vehicle starts moving for safety reasons.
Audi said the app marks the first time music videos, real-time lyrics and features such as Spotify Jam and Spotify DJ have appeared in a native in-car Spotify app. The automaker did not say whether or when the app would reach other Volkswagen Group models or vehicles from other brands.
Drivers can control music through Audi’s AI-powered voice assistant using the “Hey Audi” command to switch playlists or search for tracks, Audi said. Spotify users need an account and must sign in with a smartphone. The app can be downloaded free of charge from the Audi Application Store.