Connected Cars and Devices

Helps Members tackle challenges and opportunites in the distribution of content to new classes of connected devices, including cars.

The EBU’s Connected Cars and Devices group, a subgroup of the Strategic Programme on Products, brings EBU Members together to explore the challenges and opportunities of media consumption in a new generation of hyper-connected devices, with a particular focus on cars. The group serves as an open forum for sharing projects, strategies, and insights, with the goal of fostering collaboration between EBU Members and industry partners and shaping a unified public service media perspective that benefits audiences.

Radio Ready initiative

In June 2025, at the WorldDAB Automotive Conference in Madrid, the Radio Ready initiative was launched to promote continued, easy access to radio in connected cars. The initiative was developed under the impetus of the EBU, the Association of European Radios (AER), and Bauer Media Group, with early backing from broadcasters including the BBC, Global, NRJ, Radio France, RTL, and Sveriges Radio (SR), and further support from Antenna Group and Radio Hamburg. The Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA) association, representing commercial radio in Australia, has also endorsed the initiative.

Radio Ready builds on the foundations laid in the EBU's Connected Car Playbook, carrying forward its vision and recommendations into a collaborative framework that unites public service and commercial broadcasters. It reflects a shared commitment to keeping radio accessible, discoverable, and reliable in the connected-car environment.

Principles for radio in connected cars

The Connected Cars and Devices group defined four guiding principles to shape its work and to be considered in any discussion about the role of radio in cars. These principles informed the creation of the EBU’s Connected Car Playbook and now underpin the collaborative Radio Ready initiative.

The principles are set out below, and described in more detail in this article.

  1. Radio must remain easy to use. It should start with the push (or touch) of a button. Audiences love radio precisely because it is so easy and because they don’t need to choose. Even if we might add features, we should not forget that radio needs to remain intuitive and, especially in the car, safe to use without distraction.
  2. Radio should be impossible to miss. Just like the physical radio button used to be, it should exist on that first level and not disappear in the jungle of apps.
  3. Radio in the car should be focused and personalized. We should make smart suggestions based on prior listening but be transparent with the data we collect.
  4. Radio comes as a package. It includes public and private stations, as well as local, national and international broadcasters. All radio stations should be found in the same place