Drop Tuesday: Waymo Introduces Spotify Integration
It's time to uninstall Google Assistant.
Ever since Waymo replaced Google Play Music (rest in pieces, "I'm feeling lucky") with casting roughly 4 years ago, the experience has left a lot to be desired. Many (including myself) have experienced intermittent or even completely broken connections, with iOS users having to download the Google Assistant app and give a voice command, just to be able to listen to Spotify on the car.
I'm happy to report that these days are over! Waymo have swooped in and answered our prayers for a better music system, kicking things off with an official Spotify integration. Riders can now link their Waymo profile and Spotify accounts (either in app prior to riding, or using the on-screen QR code during a ride) for a seamless music playback experience.
Riders are able to choose songs or playlists from their Spotify app on their devices, with the usual playback and volume controls available to all other passengers in the vehicle via the on screen controls.
However, this still leaves a few unanswered questions — namely: What about Google’s own music service? What about Apple Music? What about… everything else?
While there’s currently no solid evidence to support this (and yes, this is a bit of a stretch), some elements of the in-app UI do seem to hint at the possibility of additional services coming to the car soon:
And to finish, I think we can all rest easy knowing the wonderful folks at Waymo are well aware of our insatiable appetites:
What is "Drop Tuesday"?
"Drop Tuesday" is a pattern that the community has noticed surrounding Waymo announcements. Each Tuesday morning (with a few exceptions), Waymo will release some kind of update, whether that be something small such as this, or something larger like a service area expansion.
So, what can you expect from Autonomy Central? Each Tuesday, we'll do our best to get the latest updates to you as fast as we can after any official announcements, or once something small that was quietly rolled out is noticed by us or the community!
So, be sure to check back next week for the next installment! (Unless Waymo foils our plans, which would be rather embarassing).
