First it came the agreement with Spotify, then other with Waze for traffic, then IA voice assistant Amazon Alexa and now SEAT is set to become the first carmaker in the world to integrate Shazam, one of the world’s most popular apps, which is used by hundreds of millions of users to connect with the world around them.
This was announced yesterday by SEAT President Luca de Meo at a press conference on the first day of the Mobile World Congress. The integration will become operative starting this April in SEAT cars via the SEAT DriveApp for Android Auto.
De Meo unveiled another first from the automotive company at the Mobile World Congress 2018: SEAT has established XMOBA, a new company with the main goal of identifying, testing, marketing and investing in projects that contribute to promoting solutions that improve future mobility.
Leaving aside the fact that the automotive company provides for the visitors to experience the safety standards of the brand through a drive simulator at its stand at the Mobile World Congress, De Meo also told about SEAT Leon Cristobal a digital platform integrated in their SEAT Leon models that provides more than 15 assistants, able to reduce the causes of the accidents by up to a 40%.
SEAT-Shazam partnership
The partnership with Shazam will enable SEAT customers to easily identify their favourite songs while driving in a completely safe manner thanks to the safety features available in SEAT DriveApp. With this move, the brand is taking a further step in its goal of providing an experience that is increasingly simple and personalised, and that causes less distraction to drivers.
“For all music lovers, being able to identify songs is going to be at their fingertips. Integrating Shazam will enable us to continue making progress in our goal of delivering maximum safety for our customers and achieving zero road accidents” assured de Meo. In his presentation, he added that “attending the MWC not only allows us to showcase our latest technological breakthroughs, but it also gives us the opportunity to connect and learn from other benchmark companies in the sector and make future scenarios a reality.”
Profiting from the startup spirit with XMOBA
The new entity will work independently to identify new trends and business models and implement pilot projects through investments or the development of initiatives that offer solutions to current and future mobility challenges. “The creation of XMOBA is framed within SEAT’s reorganisation as a corporate holding of different companies. XMOBA joins Metropolis:Lab Barcelona or CUPRA, the sporty new brand we launched just a few short days ago. With these initiatives we recreate the spirit of startups at a great company like SEAT” de Meo pointed out.
XMOBA (X Mobility Barcelona) is beginning its activity by spearheading two major initiatives. One is ‘justmoove’, the first project launched by the new company that will be available to all drivers. It is a platform that integrates a set of services for users to reserve and pay for parking, tolls and refuelling, among other options. The other, the carsharing company Respiro recently acquired by SEAT, will become wholly owned by the new entity, which will centralise and coordinate its activities. Not only will XMOBA offer its services to SEAT users, but it will also develop compatible solutions for the general public.
Working on a 5G connected car protptype
SEAT unveiled as well plans towork in collaboration with the stakeholders involved in the Barcelona European 5G Lab to develop 5G technology in a prototype connected car that will be tested next year in the city.
“We want Barcelona to be the place where these kind of initiatives are developed before anywhere else, as this is the fifth most innovative European city and the 13th in the World, and we’re here to move this process forward. We have also begun implementing collaboration agreements with Telefónica to conduct research into the benefits of 5G technology for connected cars” declared de Meo.
The development of this 5G connected car prototype is framed into an initiative promoted by the Catalan government, the Barcelona Council and Mobile World Capital, among others. This initiative is aimed to turn Barcelona into the European 5G lab.
Image over the headline.- Shazam integrated in a SEAT model.© SEAT.
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