Spotify is entering the second phase of their exploration of the hardware market by sending a small selection of Spotify Premium users in the USA a Car Thing.

The Car Thing is a voice-controlled music and podcast device that plugs into your cigarette lighter in the car and is connected to your account, allowing you to playback playlists and make Hello Spotify requests via voice.

It features a screen and four buttons with pre-set actions.

At present Spotify would only admit to plans to use the device to collect data on how we listen to audio content in our cars, but Spotify also appears to be working on a Home Thing and Voice Thing, so there may be a wider hardware play in the works.

Spotify says they don’t have any current plans to make this specific device available to consumers, but the learnings from the test will dictate how they develop experiences for everywhere we listen.

The current Car Thing test is via invitation-only – Spotify will presumably contact testers via their account details.

Via The Verge