MWC 2018: SEAT looks towards connectivity, starting with Shazam

Spanish car manufacturer SEAT showed off its ambitious plans in connectivity at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, becoming the world's first brand to present the Shazam music app in cars.

From April 2018, any SEAT car that has Full Link will be able to access the Shazam app through the SEAT DriveApp for Android Auto. The announcement was made on Monday at the Mobile World Congress by company President Luca de Meo.

"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."

The exhibition, mostly associated with the unveilings of the latest smartphones, also presents technology that will be implemented into other areas of everyday life, such as cars. And who better to hold the torch in Barcelona but the only company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets cars in Spain.

The brand has also announced its goals to participate in Barcelona's citywide project to become the 5G technology capital. SEAT intends to collaborate in the development of a prototype 'connected car' that could be seen on the streets of Spain as early as next year.

"We have also begun implementing collaboration agreements with Telefónica to conduct research into the benefits of 5G technology for connected cars," said de Meo.

And with the SEAT Connected Experience 2.0, visitors of MWC may get a sneak peak at what that might look like with the 360°-view interactive test drive into the future of connected driving.

Another prototype from the Volkswagen Group, SEAT's Leon Cristobalconcept car, is the 'guardian angel' of drivers that will be showcased this week. A car aimed at achieving zero road accidents, it uses more than 15 safety assistants to reduce the most common reasons for traffic accidents (including distractions, drowsiness, excess speed or alcohol consumption) by up to 40 percent.

SEAT's ambitions in terms of connectivity do not stop there as they have just founded “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.”

Last but not least, the company will address its plans for implementing Alexa voice assistance into the English and German markets -- a feature that the car industry announced last year but has yet to implement.