Audi has introduced Amazon Music to its Audi connect services roster. It brings the music streaming service’s library of 50 million songs to Audi drivers, accessible through the regular MMI service.
It also offers live broadcasts of sporting events such as football matches – and Audi’s taken advantage of this in time for the Russia World Cup with a special information service for football-addict drivers.
The ‘2018 World Cup Ticker’ is a temporary information service that feeds team news, match schedules, current scores and results to Audi drivers. Once the World Cup ends, so too will the Ticker.
Amazon Music will remain: it is fully integrated into the Audi MMI system (rather than being accessed via Apple CarPlay or Android Audi): drivers can even use handwriting input to search for artists or songs. It has a dedicated panel on the navigation menu and aims to closely mirror the functionality of Amazon Music on smartphones.
What’s needed? The latest version of the (free) myAudi app on an owner’s smartphone, plus an onboard SIM card with data package – and for those who may (for some reason) not want to use the embedded Audi connect SIM, they can pop in their own SIM.
You don’t need to connect your smartphone in order to use the service.
The service is currently offered in the UK as well as Germany, the USA, France, Spain and Italy (which is good news if you’re planning an European driving holiday this summer).
The service also scales in line with your subscription: if you have an all-access package, you’ll be able to enjoy ad-free songs and other bonuses while on the road. The introduction of Amazon Music will offer users more choice: Audi has already integrated Spotify into its cars.