As the automotive industry accelerates towards a future dominated by connected vehicles, the EBU is working to safeguard radio’s relevance in this evolving landscape. A new guide – the EBU Connected Car Playbook – is a united call to action for ensuring how radio can – and should – be visible and easy to find in the car, placing user experience at the forefront. 

In collaboration with key members including Swedish Radio, ARD, BBC, and Radio France, the EBU addresses three significant challenges facing the industry:

• Radio’s relegation: With the focus on connectivity, there’s the risk of traditional broadcast radio being sidelined. The Playbook is advocating for maintaining radio’s prominence in the car environment.
• Uncertain trajectory of voice interaction: As voice interaction becomes more prevalent in vehicles, the Playbook aims to give clarity on how radio can adapt and integrate effectively with this technology.
• Dominance of global players: The rise of global giants poses a formidable challenge to traditional broadcast services. The Playbook underlines the necessity for collective action and a unified voice to uphold radio’s prominence in this space.

Speaking at a specially convened expert panel during the 2024 Media Summit in Geneva, Cilla Benkö, EBU Vice President, emphasized that the Playbook calls for an alignment of strategy across the radio industry and a roadmap for engaging audiences in the connected car space: 

“Through bringing members together and catalyzing collaboration, we can turn our single whispers into a collective roar that cannot be ignored, ensuring that when we speak, we do so with a unified and powerful message that resonates across the industry.”

The Playbook outlines five key principles, advocating for a pragmatic approach and collaboration among all the players, with user experience and accessibility at the forefront. It proposes practical steps, such as ensuring that radio is always easy to reach with a dedicated physical or virtual button. 

The focus is on mobilizing the radio community to positively engage with the automotive industry and secure their commitment to this approach. And, with radio being the most listened-to form of entertainment in most European countries, the EBU is ready to work with the automotive industry to help give audiences - their customers - what they want.

Tomas Granryd, coordinator of the Playbook for the EBU and Head of Digital Partnerships at Sveriges Radio, stresses the need for the clear call to action: “This is an open invitation to all those who care about the future of radio to align with us. By uniting the radio industry with a clear message, we can secure the future of radio in the car.”