Spotify

Spotify ‘Car Thing’ now available in the US for $90, no invite needed; new features also coming

Ben Schoon | Feb 22 2022 - 5:30 am PT

Spotify has been working on its own car hardware for a while, with “Car Thing” having gone on sale last year for a limited number of interested users. Starting today, though, Spotify Car Thing is available to everyone in the US, just in time for a major update to the product.

Available today, Spotify Car Thing is now on sale for $90 in the United States. The product no longer requires a special invitation to purchase, it’s available for open purchase at carthing.spotify.com. The only requirement is that you are a Spotify Premium subscriber, as the paid tier is needed to use the product.

Recapping Car Thing, this hardware acts as an extension of Spotify from your phone. The device has a custom interface designed to make it easy to use Spotify while driving, with easy access to playlists, songs, and a “Hey Spotify” voice command to control playback hands-free. There’s a touchscreen as well as a physical dial for interface navigation.

This is Car Thing from Spotify, now available in the US. Ask, tap, turn or swipe to get to your favorites faster. With “Hey Spotify” you have hands-free music, every mile of the way. Car Thing works with any Premium account and connects to a mobile phone for data.

This launch comes not long after it was discovered that Spotify is removing the car mode from its smartphone app.

Our colleagues over at 9to5Mac spent time with Spotify Car Thing ahead of its wide release, calling the product a “nice add-on for a Spotify-only experience.”

Review: Spotify’s Car Thing provides a CarPlay-like experience for less than $100

For its $90 price tag, Car Thing ships with a power cable, power adapter, the device itself, and a variety of mounts.

Meanwhile, Spotify has also taken feedback from those early users to improve the experience, with the promise of updates coming. Spotify says that one upcoming feature is “Night Mode,” which will dim the brightness of the screen in the evening, much like what modern cars support for their displays. Spotify is also adding an “Add to Queue” button to the voice command repertoire.