As 2025 Approaches, Radio Still Rules The Road

In this age of streaming and Apple CarPlay, you might wonder if having a functioning car radio even matters.

That was the subject of discussion at the recent WorldDAB Summit 2024, where one speaker talked about the importance of keeping the radio prominent on the center console screen present in many new cars.

“It’s really important to keep radio prominent, to have an easy findability [for the listener],” said Gregor Pötzsch, radio product owner of the Volkswagen Group’s CARIAD and chair of the WorldDAB Automotive Working Group, according to Radio World.

The article also noted that conversely, per Pötzsch, “radio stations need to provide multimedia content that looks compelling on a car’s dashboard video screen.”

Although, dashboard screens are increasingly dangerous, as a Daily Dot investigation discovered. And that concern around new technology may be a good thing.

A Statista chart from August shows that 70% of U.S. drivers 18 and over use a radio in the car, compared to 55% using online audio, 32% listening to podcasts, and one in four still using the tried-and-true CD. As the chart title noted, “Radio still rules the road.”

With in-car entertainment systems that connect to smartphones via Apple CarPlay or Android Auto more and more common in modern cars, digital music consumption has been catching up in recent years, but for now the good old radio remains America's most popular roadside companion.