Ford, Lincoln and Apple CarPlay roll out new in‑car audio features

Autio announced that its location‑based audio catalogue is now embedded directly into the digital experience of select Ford and Lincoln vehicles in the United States. The embedded app runs on the vehicle’s own computer, displays on the dashboard screen and offers more than 12,000 stories that play automatically as the car passes points of interest, with narration from voices such as Kevin Costner. This marks Autio’s first placement inside an automaker’s software, eliminating the need for a phone connection.

Apple’s upcoming iOS 27 update adds a redesigned MiniPlayer and native audio‑scrubbing to Apple CarPlay. The new interface shows album art and lets drivers pause, skip or seek within tracks without leaving the navigation screen, aiming to reduce visual distraction. At launch the features support Apple Music and Apple Podcasts, with third‑party apps like Spotify expected to follow.