There’s a new Spotify in-vehicle app, and Audi EVs are the first to get it. And no, you’re not wrong—Spotify already has an application designed for Google-based infotainment systems, but the new one was built from start to finish by the Swedish company without having to comply with Google’s design restrictions.
The previous iteration of Spotify’s Android Automotive app worked as a headless setup, where the music streaming service was in charge of the data, playlists, and music catalog, but Google guidelines set hard rules on how the interface looked. Now, the new app is headful, meaning that Spotify can do whatever it wants with the user interface, drawing pixels on the car’s display as it desires.
“We’re drawing all the pixels,” said Jonathan Tarlton, Automotive Business Development Lead at Spotify, in an interview quoted by The Verge. “We own the user experience. So we’re not in a template or a framework. It’s 100 percent Spotify.”
As a result, the new setup can take advantage of all the crazy features found in today’s cars. On cars with a passenger display, Spotify can show music lyrics. The front passenger can scan a QR code to join a shared listening session and add songs to the shared queue.
The center display can show videos and lyrics, too, but once the car starts moving, these features are restricted, and only the audio continues playing. Voice commands are baked in, with Spotify claiming its new app taps directly into the vehicle’s built-in voice assistant.
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