Digital Home Thoughts: Pandora in Your Car? You Can't Be Sirius!

"During an early afternoon panel at the SF Music Tech Summit, chief technology officer Tom Conrad said the company’s mobile strategy will first hinge on a transitional phase in which its smartphone apps will be controlled from dashboard or steering-wheel interfaces, before dispensing with the smartphones altogether as the service is built into web-connected cars."

Some of you must be thinking, "Ha! I already have Pandora in my car! I have a <insert trendy smart/featurephone> that streams the music for me!" Well, that's true, and Pandora recognizes that fact. However, unless you have figured a way to control Pandora by voice, controlling it could be dangerous, or in some cases, against the law. The goal is to integrate controls for Pandora into a vehicle's dashboard, much like what you can do with an iPod, or Sirius, so things are easier to use. Of course, that will not stop Pandora from picking the most inopportune song when you drive by a bunch of your friends.