All Spotify Car Things Are About to Become E-Waste
thedrive.com
thedrive.com
It's possible they wanted their own small, self-contained "infotainment system" (like the Sirius XM satellite radio streaming devices from the 2000's which were self-contained) without the pesky UI locks the vehicle applies while in motion. But since you must pair this device with Bluetooth anyway (something my car absurdly doesn't allow while in motion), as the article states, why not just use the phone with the app?
And "Car Thing"...is that name the best they could do?
If it were self-contained it would basically be a cell phone but probably wouldn’t have a good modem in it, would have bad coverage, etc. In principle you could build a wireless system really designed for car use that would have a bigger antenna, higher budget, all that, maybe even a differently configured cellular network. A system like that might almost meet the coverage requirements for C2V (but cellular always “almost” offers universal coverage and filling the gap would kill the economics.). A system like that would probably be installed in the car by the OEM and would be out of Spotify’s domain.
[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40456644
[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40457867