{"id":355807,"date":"2025-12-18T09:50:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T09:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/355807\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T09:50:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T09:50:13","slug":"mercedes-benz-discontinues-feature-that-syncs-music-to-driving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/355807\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercedes-Benz discontinues feature that syncs music to driving"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mercedes-Benz sent out a notice to customers recently announcing its plans to discontinue MBUX Sound Drive, an interactive audio feature that syncs music to the car\u2019s actions. The feature was first announced less than a year ago at CES<\/a> in partnership with Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.am.<\/p>\n

Notices went out recently to customers that MBUX Sound Drive would be turned off on December 17th, according to one email obtained by The Verge. \u201cWe are working to continue to offer you comparable, innovative services,\u201d the automaker said.<\/p>\n

The \u201cinnovative musical experience\u201d uses sensors and software to link music to driving. Mercedes used composed musical tracks to pair with regular functions like EV recuperation, acceleration, steering, and braking. During CES, Will.i.am said that the feature turned the whole car its own \u201corchestra.\u201d Drivers could opt in by selecting Sound Drive through their infotainment screen, which then connects the car\u2019s hardware with the music software through \u201cin-car signals\u201d that enable the music to react to the driving characteristics in real-time.<\/p>\n

It was a fun, if superfluous, gimmick that enabled music to \u201creact\u201d to certain driving actions. For example, if you slow down the vocals would fade, and when you accelerate the bass kicks harder. The feature would only work with 30 or so pre-selected tracks, though Mercedes intended it to be an \u201copen music platform\u201d so any musician could create their own auditory soundscape for driving.<\/p>\n

Using the company\u2019s MBUX operating system, artists from around the world are invited to \u201ccreate tracks\u201d for a variety of driving functions. But apparently the vision for the technology didn\u2019t pan out as expected. In an email, Mercedes spokesperson Cathleen Decker confirmed that MBUX Sound Drive was shutting down.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the context of our ongoing review and further strategic development of our portfolio of digital extras, we have decided to deactivate MBUX SOUND DRIVE and remove it from our offerings at the end of this year,\u201d Decker said. \u201cThis adjustment allows us to continuously optimize our offerings and focus on developing future-oriented innovations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mercedes-Benz sent out a notice to customers recently announcing its plans to discontinue MBUX Sound Drive, an interactive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[1302,88,54689,216,3,74,6145],"class_list":{"0":"post-355807","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-cars","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-mercedes-benz","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-technology","14":"tag-transportation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}